BOMBSHELL REPORTING: Jon Husted’s Ties to $61 Million Dollar Bribery Scandal Much Deeper Than Previously Known

BOMBSHELL REPORTING: Jon Husted's Ties to $61 Million Dollar Bribery Scandal Much Deeper Than Previously Known

April 20, 2026

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Republicans plan big spending to keep Ohio's Senate seat. A bribery scandal adds to their challenges

COLUMBUS, OHIO - New reporting from the Associated Press reveals that Senator Jon Husted's ties to the FirstEnergy bribery scandal, the largest corruption scheme in Ohio history, are much deeper than previously known.

The new reporting reveals that Husted played a key role in negotiating the billion dollar bailout to utility companies - even going as far as pushing to deliver $600 million more to FirstEnergy and other utilities at the expense of Ohio taxpayers. This further underscores Husted's key role in the FirstEnergy corruption scheme, with previous reporting revealing phone calls, text messages, and secret meetings between Husted and the indicted FirstEnergy executives.

Ohio Democratic Party Senior Communications Advisor Tony Wen released the following statement:

"Jon Husted was at the center of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history and it's costing Ohioans thousands of dollars more on their utility bills. Now we are learning that Jon Husted's ties to the FirstEnergy bribery scandal run even deeper than previously known. Ohioans deserve answers about how deep Jon Husted's involvement goes."

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Associated Press: Republicans plan big spending to keep Ohio's Senate seat. A bribery scandal adds to their challenges

• As he seeks to retain his U.S. Senate seat this fall, Ohio Republican Jon Husted has been unable to escape the shadow of a $60 million bribery scandal that has roiled state politics for more than five years.

• Husted was recently called to testify as a defense witness in the related criminal trial of two former energy executives, testimony he might have to reprise after a hung jury led to a mistrial in the case in March.

• A judge in Akron scheduled the retrial to begin Sept. 28, meaning Husted could be back on the witness stand a week before early voting begins for the November elections.

• Husted calendars that came to light during the recent trial involving executives for the utility, Akron-based FirstEnergy, showed a number of additional meetings or phone calls that he had with former CEO Chuck Jones, with the state's former top utility regulator, who has since died, and with then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.

• The interactions noted in Husted's calendars were around the time the bailout bill was being developed and passed. Evidence presented in various cases showed Jones and Dowling discussing a push by Husted for additional subsidies in the legislation.

• A longtime Ohio lobbyist told federal agents that FirstEnergy and FirstEnergy Solutions, the subsidiary that owned the nuclear power plants helped by the bailout, funneled dark money to nonprofits that benefited Husted and Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican.

• According to the notes from his Department of Justice interview obtained by The Associated Press and not previously reported, lobbyist Neil Clark identified one of the groups as Freedom Frontier. That was the very group that received a $1 million contribution in 2017 marked internally by FirstEnergy as "Husted campaign."

• Internal FirstEnergy communications from 2017 and 2018, which is evidence in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, include discussions involving Jones, Dowling and others about attending Husted events as far back as 2016. They also reflect Dowling's concerns about dark money contributions becoming public.

• Jones and Dowling also discussed strategies to contribute under alternate names. In July 2018, for instance, as the two were planning a DeWine-Husted fundraiser in Naples, Florida, they discussed contributing under one name while covering event costs under another - so there would be "no cost billed to (the) campaign."

• Husted declined a request for further comment about the details that have emerged as the various cases surrounding the bribery scandal play out.

As a reminder, Jon Husted played a central role "running the show" in the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history alongside Dowling and Jones:

• New evidence during the trial revealed nine calls between Jon Husted and Mike Dowling in the months preceding a $4.3 million bribe to former Utilities Commission Chair Sam Randazzo.

• New reporting revealed Jon Husted held secret meetings with Dowling and Jones, including with the "mastermind of Ohio's largest public corruption scheme two days before scandal-ridden bribery legislation was introduced."

• Neil Clark, a FirstEnergy lobbyist and co-defendant with former House Speaker Larry Householder, referred to Husted as FirstEnergy's "golden boy."

• Text messages between Husted, Dowling, and Jones reveal that the trio were in constant communication "before, during and after his campaign."

• Convicted FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones said Husted was a "good friend of FirstEnergy" who was "highly engaged" and "fighting to the end" in support of the massive bail out.

• A dinner between Jon Husted and the convicted FirstEnergy executives at the Athletic Club of Columbus was a focal point of the criminal trial.

• Public records show that FirstEnergy - led by Jones and Dowling - funneled $1 million in dark money to a dark money group backing Husted in 2017, part of the same corrupt scheme that led to federal and state indictments.

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