Husted's Bribery Scandal Looms Over Ohio Senate Race

0:00On April 19, Ohio Senator John Hustet is fighting to keep his seat this fall, but a $60 million bribery scandal from first energy keeps, haunting him. The Republican testified in the trial of two former energy execs, Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling, but a hung jury forced a mistrial back in March. Now a judge set the retrial for September 28th, just a week before early voting kicks off for the November elections. Those calendars from Hustet's office dug up through public records, show extra meetings and calls with Jones, the late-top utility regulator, and ex-house speaker Larry Householder right when the nuclear bailout bill was cooking. Prosecutors say those three were the core of the scheme, which Householders already doing 20 years for after his 2023 conviction. Senate Republicans seem worried, dropping $79 million through their top super PAC on Hustet's race. That's about a quarter of their. National spend across eight battlegrounds. He's up against Democrat-sharer Brown, who lost his seat in 2024, but is gunning for

1:02a comeback. New details from Tex and lobbyist chats, Payne Hustet pushing for longer subsidies on that bailout from six to ten years, though he says he knew. Nothing criminal. Plus, first energy funneled dark money to groups like Freedom Frontier, marked for his campaign when he ran for governor, Scroding Donor Rules. Hustet swears under oath. He had no hand in the bill or the bribes, and his team ain't saying more. With the retrial looming, this could swing Ohio's tight-centify one way or another. Global news, powered by AI, this is Global News Today.