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Court unseals investigative file from ex-D.C. mayor Gray campaign probe Court unseals investigative file from ex-D.C. mayor Gray campaign probe
(about 5 hours later)
Court records released Friday show federal prosecutors were investigating whether former D.C. mayor Vincent C. Gray promised city jobs and thousands of dollars to a political rival to get him out of the 2010 Democratic primary. Court records released Friday show that federal prosecutors investigated whether Vincent C. Gray, as a candidate for mayor in 2010, promised city jobs and thousands of dollars to a political rival to get him out of the Democratic primary.
Among the hundreds of pages of documents unsealed, an excerpt of an email to Gray describes a series of positions in city government that the former mayor allegedly offered if the rival agreed to drop out of the contest. Among hundreds of pages of documents unsealed, an excerpt of an email to Gray describes city government positions he allegedly offered to Leo Alexander if he dropped out of the primary, which Gray won on his way to becoming mayor.
The documents were released Friday morning after The Washington Post went to court seeking access to records from the closed investigation that cast a dark cloud over D.C. politics and resulted in guilty pleas from 12 people, including several top aides to the former mayor. The documents were released Friday after The Washington Post went to court seeking access to records from the closed investigation that cast a dark cloud over D.C. politics and resulted in guilty pleas from 12 people, including several top aides to the former mayor.
[What’s inside the Vincent Gray campaign case file][What’s inside the Vincent Gray campaign case file]
The nearly five-year-long federal investigation uncovered an illegal shadow campaign for Gray funded by former city contractor Jeffrey E. Thompson and coordinated by public relations consultant Jeanne Clarke Harris. The case had been widely viewed as leading to the former mayor, but prosecutors closed the investigation in December without charging Gray. Both Thompson and Harris have pleaded guilty to charges related to the campaign funding and are awaiting sentencing. Taken together, the more than a dozen search warrants and statements from federal agents show investigators last year trying to corroborate through email records and cellphone data what they had learned from cooperating witnesses as prosecutors prepared for a potential prosecution of the former mayor.
New records show prosecutors trying to firm up accounts that placed Gray in proximity to the operations of an off-the-books campaign and statements that shadow campaign money was handled by his son. The documents also reveal for the first time that a second witness told investigators that Gray himself had asked for money from the once-powerful political donor, Jeffrey E. Thompson.
The nearly five-year federal investigation uncovered a $653,000 illegal shadow campaign for Gray funded by Thompson, a former city contractor, and coordinated by public relations consultant Jeanne Clarke Harris. The case had been widely viewed as targeting the former mayor, but prosecutors closed the investigation in December without charging Gray.
Thompson and Harris have pleaded guilty to charges in the case and are awaiting sentencing.
[Timeline: The investigation of Vincent Gray][Timeline: The investigation of Vincent Gray]
Gray denies allegations that he knew about the off-the-books spending, as Thompson has asserted in court. He and his supporters have blamed the timing of the broader investigation for Gray’s loss to now-Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) in the 2014 primary. Gray has mounted a bid for his former seat on the D.C. Council. The former mayor denies allegations that he knew about the off-the-books spending, as Thompson asserted in court. Gray and his supporters have blamed the investigation — in particular, the timing of Thompson’s March 2014 plea — for Gray’s loss to now-Mayor Muriel E. Bowser in the Democratic primary a month later. Gray has mounted a bid this year for his former Ward 7 seat on the D.C. Council.
The Post previously reported that during the 2010 Democratic mayoral primary, Gray was deeply concerned that fellow candidate Leo Alexander could draw votes from him and ultimately cost him the election to incumbent Adrian M. Fenty. Chuck Thies, Gray’s campaign treasurer, said Friday that the investigation was closed “without any suggestion of wrongdoing by Vince Gray.”
Gray met with Alexander in August 2010 at a house in a Maryland suburb to discuss exiting the race, The Post has previously reported. “If unanswered questions remain, they are not about Vince,” he said. “Rather, why did the former U.S. attorney give a sweetheart deal to a creep?” Thompson could face months instead of years of prison time if he complies with his plea deal.
On Friday, Alexander said an account of the meeting and discussion from Harris that is included in the newly released documents was substantially accurate, and Alexander confirmed that an e-mail exchange described there was between him and Gray. In January 2015, as pressure mounted on then-U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. to wrap up the case, investigators requested cellphone-location records to try to corroborate where and when key figures in the probe were meeting.
The account in the newly released affidavit and interviews show that Alexander emailed Gray after the meeting, detailing the offer Alexander said Gray made to back him for a soon-to-be-vacant at-large D.C. Council seat, a deputy mayorship or a job at the D.C. Office of Cable Television. Investigators specifically sought location records for phones used by Thompson, Harris and Mark Long, who served as Gray’s campaign driver and was paid by Thompson, according to court records.
Alexander also sought $50,000 to pay off campaign debts, new court records and interviews show. But Gray told Harris that the campaign had only $20,000 immediately available, and also that Alexander should be paid through Harris because Gray “did not want publicity for their campaign report,” according to the affidavit and a person familiar with the exchange. Authorities redacted references to Gray in the documents released Friday as well as names of other individuals who were not charged. But Gray and his campaign had been identified as the beneficiaries of Thompson’s secret spending at the donor’s plea hearing.
A $20,000 check was cut from the Gray campaign to Harris’s firm, as the Post previously reported, but Alexander rejected the deal and Harris returned the check. A key moment in the shadow campaign was a September 2010 meeting between Thompson and Gray at Harris’s apartment. There, according to statements filed in Thompson’s plea, Gray asked Thompson to fund a get-out-the-vote effort and presented Thompson with a budget.
Thompson had said in court that Gray knew the get-out-the-vote (GOTV) money would not be properly reported and would be coordinated with the official campaign through Harris and Vernon Hawkins, Gray’s longtime political adviser and friend.
The records show for the first time that in addition to Thompson, Harris told prosecutors that Gray “personally asked Thompson for the money” at the meeting at Harris’s apartment, according to an FBI agent’s request for cellphone records. Harris also told investigators that Gray “played a direct role in supporting Hawkins’s implementation of the Thompson-funded GOTV activities,” according to the agent’s records request.
According to the new documents, Harris told investigators that she understood that Thompson characterized the funds discussed in the meeting as a “loan.” No loan was ever reported by Gray’s campaign or by Thompson.
Hawkins has told the FBI “there was no doubt in his mind” that Gray knew about the GOTV effort but could provide no firsthand account, according to a previous filing by prosecutors for Hawkins, who also has pleaded guilty in the broader case. Hawkins told investigators that Gray “worked with his budget people” and “saw everything that Hawkins was doing for the shadow campaign.”
Gray’s attorney, Robert S. Bennett, declined to comment Friday on the newly released documents.
The records sought by prosecutors show them focused on witness accounts that placed Gray physically close to the illicit campaign. According to previous Post reporting and court documents, workers for the shadow campaign and the legitimate Gray campaign worked side-by-side in Gray’s Sixth Street NW headquarters.
Investigators said in a request for phone records that Gray might have witnessed a disturbance, previously described by The Post, that occurred a few days before the primary. Shadow campaign workers who had not been paid showed up at the official headquarters demanding payment.
Long told investigators, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Friday, that Gray was on the premises that night, and agents in turn sought cellphone-location information to try to corroborate that account.
Authorities told a judge that location data could be “evidence of [Gray’s] exposure to Thompson-funded GOTV activities.”
Newly released documents also indicate that Gray’s son, Carlos Gray, is the individual prosecutors previously identified as the “close relative” of the former mayor’s whom Thompson paid $10,000 purportedly to pay Howard University students working on the campaign.
An FBI affidavit released Friday describes the $10,000 payment as involving “the son of” an individual whose name is redacted. The affidavit tracks an incident described by prosecutors in another recent filing, in which a “close relative” of Gray’s received the money from Thompson via an intermediary.
Asked to comment on behalf of Carlos Gray, attorney Robert P. Trout said, “I have no comment, and neither does my client.”
In the earliest filings, from 2012, warrants for raids on the offices and homes of Thompson and Harris show that investigators relied on information from Thompson’s niece, Bridgette Thompson.
Her identity is redacted in the newly released documents, but an unnamed witness is described as having used Jeffrey Thompson’s money to make campaign donations in their own name. The contributions described in the affidavit match donations listed in public campaign finance records for Bridgette Thompson.
The Post has also previously reported that Bridgette Thompson worked as her uncle’s secretary and read and answered all of his business emails. The witness in the affidavit is described as telling agents that Jeffrey Thompson and Harris knew about the federal probe and were trying to destroy evidence.
According to the affidavit, Jeffrey Thompson directed an employee to remove emails on his company’s computer system and asked the witness to box up potentially incriminating documents and whether she would be willing to leave the country.
In statements to the witness, “Harris advised that she ‘bleached’ her computer and that she would take the ‘rap’ for Thompson,’” the FBI agent wrote.
The Post previously reported that during the 2010 Democratic mayoral primary, Gray was deeply concerned that Alexander could draw votes from him and ultimately cost him the election to incumbent Adrian M. Fenty. In an effort to arrange his exit, Gray met with Alexander in August 2010 at a house in a Maryland suburb.
On Friday, Alexander said an account of that meeting and of subsequent negotiations with Harris that are included in the newly released documents was substantially accurate, and he confirmed the authenticity of an email he sent to Gray.
In the email, Alexander details job offers that he claims Gray made to secure his withdrawal from the mayoral race. They included a soon-to-be-vacant at-large D.C. Council seat, a deputy mayorship or a job at the D.C. Office of Cable Television.
Alexander also sought $50,000 to pay off campaign debts, but Gray told Harris that the campaign had only $20,000 immediately available and that Alexander should be paid through Harris because Gray “did not want publicity for their campaign report,” according to the affidavit and a person familiar with the exchange.
A $20,000 check was cut from the Gray campaign to Harris’s firm, as The Post previously reported, but Alexander rejected the deal and Harris returned the check. Alexander remained in the race and ultimately received fewer than 1,000 votes.
Gray said, “I just want him out,” according to the affidavit and the person familiar with the exchange.Gray said, “I just want him out,” according to the affidavit and the person familiar with the exchange.
Gray’s attorney, Robert S. Bennett declined to comment Friday on the documents. Gray did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Thies disputed the suggestion that Gray offered Alexander a job. “I read [the email] as stating there was a desire by Leo Alexander to be a deputy mayor and Vince making it clear that he was not qualified for that,” he said. “We all know there’s a big difference in discussing a job offer and what you may or may not be qualified for.”
To build their case, investigators searched emails and cellphone location records to try to corroborate what they were hearing from witnesses, for example, about the places and times that key figures in the investigation were meeting. The newly released documents also shed light on a $10,000 payment Thompson admitted to making shortly after the primary at Gray’s request “in support of a candidate in a local labor union runoff election.”
Investigators specifically sought location records for cellphones used by Thompson, Harris and Mark Long, who served as Gray’s campaign driver and was paid by Thompson, according to court records. Authorities failed to redact a reference to the Washington Teachers’ Union and its former president, George Parker, in a application for a warrant to search Gray’s personal emails.
A key moment in the shadow campaign was a September 2010 meeting between Thompson and Gray at Harris’s apartment. Parker said in an interview Friday that he requested a contribution from Gray and that he had spoken to investigators. “I got a campaign contribution,” he said. “But I don’t know where he got the money from.”
There, according to statements filed in Thompson’s guilty plea, Gray asked Thompson to fund a get-out-the-vote effort and presented Thompson with a budget. Thompson has said in court that the former mayor knew the campaign money would not be properly reported. Parker recalled in the interview that when he asked Gray for help, “He asked me, ‘Is that legal?’ ” Parker said he explained to Gray that union election spending was not subject to contribution limits or disclosure requirements. But the fact that Thompson made the payment at Gray’s request could have been used by prosecutors to show a quid pro quo relationship between the two men.
But according to an affidavit filed for a 2015 search of cellphone records, Harris told investigators that she understood that Thompson characterized the funds as a “loan.” Had a case gone to trial, Gray’s attorneys likely would have highlighted that fact to argue that Gray assumed any spending by Thompson would be done legally. U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips has provided little explanation of his decision to end the probe without further charges other than to say that the “admissible evidence is likely insufficient to obtain and sustain criminal convictions against any other individuals.”
In the earliest filings from 2012, are warrants from the raids on the offices and homes of Thompson and Harris. The records show for the first time that investigators relied on information from Thompson’s niece, Bridgette Thompson.
Thompson’s niece’s identity is redacted in the documents, but is described as having used Thompson’s money to make campaign donations in her own name. The contributions described in the affidavit match donations listed in public campaign finance records for Bridgette Thompson.
In the newly released records, the person described as having access to Thompson’s email told agents that Thompson and Harris knew about the probe and were trying to destroy evidence.
The Post has also previously reported that Bridgette Thompson worked as her uncle’s secretary and read and answered all of his business e-mails.
According to the affidavit, Thompson directed an employee to remove emails on his company’s computer system, to box up potentially incriminating documents and asked the employee whether she would be willing to leave the country.
“Harris advised that she ‘bleached’ her computer and that she would take the ‘rap’ for Thompson,’” the FBI agent wrote.
The Post asked to review the investigative materials on First Amendment grounds, saying there was no compelling justification to keep records secret after the probe was shut down.
U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips has provided little explanation for his decision to end the probe other than to say that the “admissible evidence is likely insufficient to obtain and sustain criminal convictions against any other individuals.”
The Post reported Thursday that the shadow campaign case was stalled for months, and possibly aborted, because of concerns about the credibility of Thompson, who was expected to be a key witness against the former mayor.The Post reported Thursday that the shadow campaign case was stalled for months, and possibly aborted, because of concerns about the credibility of Thompson, who was expected to be a key witness against the former mayor.
Investigators began asking questions last year about the ages of Thompson’s sexual partners to determine whether he had committed a crime, according to witnesses who spoke to federal agents and The Post.Investigators began asking questions last year about the ages of Thompson’s sexual partners to determine whether he had committed a crime, according to witnesses who spoke to federal agents and The Post.
[Shadow campaign case delayed over claims key witness had credibility issue][Shadow campaign case delayed over claims key witness had credibility issue]
A spokesman for Phillips declined to answer questions about whether the investigation into Thompson’s relationships derailed the broader campaign finance case. There is no reference to the investigation into Thompson’s background in the documents unsealed Friday.
Thompson’s attorneys also have declined to comment. Thompson, 61, has not been charged with any other crime since he pleaded guilty to two campaign finance-related felonies in 2014. Thompson’s attorneys have declined to comment. Thompson has not been charged with any other crime since 2014, when he pleaded guilty to two campaign finance-related felonies.
Aaron C. Davis contributed to this report.Aaron C. Davis contributed to this report.
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The documents unsealed in the Gray campaign caseThe documents unsealed in the Gray campaign case