It appears the story concerning former Governor Matt Bevin’s (R-KY) use of the pardon power to free a large number of criminals isn’t about to peter out after all.
The FBI is asking questions about the pardons Matt Bevin issued during his last weeks as Kentucky governor, The Courier Journal has learned.
State Rep. Chris Harris, D-Forest Hills, told reporters that a criminal investigator contacted him last week and asked what he knew about Bevin’s pardons.
Harris did not elaborate on what questions were asked, and he declined to say which law enforcement agency contacted him.
“I can confirm that I have been contacted by someone looking into the pardons that were issued by Gov. Bevin on his way out the door,” he said. “The impression I got is that there was an investigation ramping up.”
Two sources with knowledge of the inquiry told The Courier Journal on Monday that an FBI agent had spoken with Harris. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the agency could “neither confirm nor deny the existence of said investigation” when reached late Monday night.
State prosecutors and leaders such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have condemned several of Bevin’s decisions, particularly his pardon of Patrick Baker, who had served two years of a 19-year sentence for reckless homicide and robbery in the slaying of a Knox County man in front of his family.
The Courier Journal reported on Dec. 11 that Baker’s brother held a campaign fundraiser at his home for Bevin in July 2018 that raised $21,500. The former governor also received a letter from business executive Terry Forcht, one of the state’s Republican mega-donors, urging Bevin to pardon Baker. [The Courier Journal]
While it might be premature to leap to the conclusion that Bevin was bribed with a mere $21,000 campaign contribution, the involvement of Terry Forcht, Chairman & CEO of the Forcht Group, a banking group, is a little puzzling. I hope the FBI will be investigating the motivations for that letter as well.
While we wait for the investigations to come to fruition, I wonder just how quickly our Teflon President will deny any sort of relationship with the former Governor. Remember how his former 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort, abruptly became nothing more than a short-term staffer?
The Trump campaign claimed Trump’s campaign rally on the eve of the recent election had dragged Bevin across the finish line ahead of the eventual victor, Democrat Andy Beshear. Will they deny that Trump even showed up at the rally? That Trump has never met Bevin? That Bevin doesn’t exist?
Inquiring minds wait in trembling eagerness!
Damn, I wish I had some sort of drawing ability. This just cries out for a cartoon.
