Utah prosecutors charged a former attorney general candidate with bribery on Wednesday, accusing him of offering a job to a political opponent in exchange for the candidate’s endorsement.
Frank Mylar was accused of election bribery because he sought the support of fellow Republican Trent Christensen in exchange for employment in his office if elected.
Christensen told the local police department in May that Mylar sent him a text message before the state’s Republican nomination convention on April 27, a detective in Murray, Utah, said in a court filing Tuesday.
In a text message, Mylar said her campaign was “gaining more power” before urging Christensen to endorse her.
“If you can support me before the convention, I would definitely let you into my office. Think about it for a few days,” Mylar wrote, according to prosecutors.
Christensen didn’t respond to the text message, and that same day, Mylar sent a follow-up message asking Christensen to ignore her previous text, saying she didn’t intend to send it and saying, “It’s not an offer, etc.” he said. to court documents.
Mylar’s attorneys — Nathan A. Crane and Rick Van Wagoner — said their client denied the allegations and would not plead guilty.
“Frank vehemently denies the allegations against him. Frank did not bribe anyone or attempt to bribe anyone. Frank was simply seeking support for his campaign,” they said in a statement. “Shortly after sending the text message, Frank followed up with the recipient so his original text wouldn’t be misunderstood.”
In an interview, Christensen told NBC News that the text message “speaks for itself” and that he would not have acted differently if the convention and primary results had been different.
“When I ran my campaign, it was based on trust and accountability, how I think Utah needs an attorney general who is more focused on trust and accountability to the public, and that means accountability all the way around.” the system will do its job properly and justice will be served.”
Christensen did not participate in the June 25 primary after being selected at the April nominating convention. Mylar was defeated in a three-way primary by Derek Brown, who received 43.59% of the vote.
Rudy Bautista is the Democratic candidate for the November election.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, a Republican, declined to seek re-election in December.