CINCINNATI — Two and a half years after FBI agents arrested former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder in the largest bribery scandal in state history, jurors are on the verge of deciding if what he did was a crime, or just American politics.
After a scathing day of cross-examination, Householder’s attorneys rested their defense case. Then his co-defendant, ex-GOP chair turned lobbyist Matt Borges, declined to testify or put on any evidence.
U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black announced the remaining schedule: jurors are off on Friday and will return Monday to hear jury instructions, followed by closing arguments on Tuesday morning. A verdict will likely come sometime next week, depending on when deliberations begin and how jurors feel about their view into statehouse politics from the past six weeks of testimony.
The most dramatic testimony came Wednesday, when Householder offered jurors his version of what happened, and on Thursday when a prosecutor punctured it with cross-examination.
“I think it is the most important part of the case,” said Northern Kentucky University law professor Ken Katkin who is following the case. “I think the whole trial does turn on his testimony.”
Prosecutors accuse Borges and Householder of being part of a complex scheme to funnel $61 million in dark money from Akron-based First Energy to elect Householder as speaker, solidify his power base, secure enough votes to pass a ratepayer-funded bailout of two nuclear plants and ensure it survived a ballot campaign to overturn it.
Racketeering conspiracy, or RICO, is a charge more often associated with organized crime bosses than elected leaders and lobbyists.
Householder and Borges face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
“If this looks complicated it is. Purposely so. This is a way to hide money and make it … difficult to trace,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Glatfelter said in her opening statement.
Glatfelter is deputy criminal chief for the prosecutor’s Cincinnati office who led successful cases against former Evans Landscaping owner Doug Evans, Chinese spy Yanjun Xu, and former Cincinnati City Councilman PG Sittenfeld — winning guilty verdicts in all three lengthy, high-profile trials since 2018.
Householder tried to convince jurors on Wednesday that he was an honest, frugal “old Appalachian boy,” who loved his family and the common folk of Ohio who he referred to as Bob and Betty Buckeye.
He said he did not threaten or pressure lawmakers to vote for the controversial nuclear bailout known as House Bill 6 or for him as House speaker, and that he did not ask them to delete related text messages.
“In his defense testimony he gave possible innocent explanations for all of the conduct he committed,” Katkin said. “So the point of the cross-examination is … to show that his explanations can’t be true.”
Here is a summary of some of the cross-examination.
- Householder got into testy exchanges with the prosecutor. “Is that what you’re trying to insinuate,” Householder responded to one question. “I’m not trying to insinuate anything,” she responded. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply with that,” Householder said after another question. “I’m not trying to imply anything,” she responded.
- He also got into a heated exchange with Judge Black after he repeatedly tried to turn the cross-examination around and question the prosecutor. “She gets to ask the questions,” Black said. Then Householder tried to talk over the judge. “Excuse me,” Black yelled at him. “I’m sorry, sir. I apologize, judge, I’m not familiar with the process,” Householder responded.
- Cleveland businessman Tony George is alleged to be a go-between for Householder and FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones. He booked a $1,500 hotel room Householder for the inauguration of former Pres. Donald Trump and paid the bill. Householder never disclosed the perk on his financial disclosure statement. He said he thought the Ohio Republican party booked the rooms. “You weren’t aware of who was paying for your hotel room?” Glatfelter asked.
- Householder said he ran for House speaker to end “divisiveness," and never threatened lawmakers who voted against him. Then Glatfelter played a secret recording between Householder and former lobbyist Neil Clark, who committed suicide after his arrest. Householder said “We like war” and “You’re gonna f*** with me, I’m gonna f*** with your kids.”
- Prosecutors say Householder took hundreds of thousands in dark money to pay off credit card debt, legal bills and repair his Florida vacation home. Householder insisted the money was a loan from top aide Jeff Longstreth (who pleaded guilty and testified against him), and that he didn’t know the it had ultimately flowed from FirstEnergy through a 501c4 nonprofit, Generation Now. “You knew he was being paid by Generation Now, didn’t you,” Glatfelter asked. “I didn’t know how he was getting paid,” Householder replied … I frankly don’t have any idea.”
- Householder repeatedly responded to Glatfelter’s questions with responses such as, “I don’t have an answer for you,” or “I don’t know.”
- Glatfelter asked about the phone logs between Householder and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost during the referendum campaign of the HB 6 nuclear bailout, and why he had deleted them. “I try to delete as much as I can … because you have to pay if you don’t have enough storage on your phone … I didn’t delete these calls because I was trying to conceal them.”
- Glatfelter pointed out that Householder’s financial disclosure forms from 2016 to 2020 he was a state lawmaker, did not disclose his credit card debt, lien against him in Ohio for an out-of-state settlement, his interest in an LLC, or perks he received. Yet he swore on the disclosure forms that they were correct, “similar to the oath you’ve taken today,” Glatfelter said. “I’ve glanced over them, but I’ve always had an attorney file these for me.” It’s a crime to misrepresent things on this form, she said. “I see that,” he responded.
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