#PROBEGATE INVESTIGATION RAMPS UP …
Powerful neo-Confederate political consultant Richard Quinn has been summoned to appear before a statewide grand jury investigating alleged corruption at the S.C. State House, multiple sources familiar with the status of the probe tell FITSNews.
Quinn’s appearance was scheduled to take place at 1:30 p.m. EST in the grand jury room at the S.C. attorney general’s office – which is located on the grounds of the S.C. State House. That’s an ironic location considering the current attorney general – longtime Quinn confidant Alan Wilson – appears to have become a focus of the investigation himself.
As this website exclusively reported last spring, Quinn and his son – S.C. Rep. Rick Quinn – were reportedly named in the still-secret pages of a December 2013 investigative report prepared by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). That document formed the basis for the current investigation, which seeks to determine whether state lawmakers have been abusing their positions of public trust for personal gain.
Also named in those pages? S.C. Rep. Jimmy Merrill – who was suspended from office earlier this year after getting slapped with a thirty-count indictment that could land him in jail for more than six decades.
Merrill has yet to negotiate a plea deal with prosecutors – and could be facing additional charges.
The current investigation is being led by S.C. first circuit solicitor David Pascoe – a Democrat from Orangeburg, S.C. This website has been supportive of Pascoe’s efforts, but the special prosecutor is facing increasing pressure to broaden the scope of his probe to include lawmakers and other officials within his party.
That makes sense …
As we said last September, Pascoe can ill afford “the perception that his investigation is being manipulated for political purposes.”
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