Attorneys for a former House speaker and legislative staffer indicted in a federal corruption case say in a new court filing that House Speaker Cameron Sexton or someone on his staff likely wore a wire to provide investigators with information five years ago.
Ex-Speaker Glen Casada and his chief of staff, Cade Cothren, claim federal prosecutors are refusing to disclose the identity of people who secretly gathered information against them in a fraud investigation, thus keeping the pair from putting them on the stand as witnesses in a trial set for April 22.
Sexton became speaker after Casada resigned from the post and is cooperating with federal prosecutors in the case. The filing says it is unlikely that former Legislative Administration Director Connie Ridley wore a wire as part of the investigation and recorded House Republican Caucus Campaign Committee conversations, as a person identified as “CHS1” allegedly did.
“The more plausible explanation is that CHS1 is the speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, or someone working in the speaker’s office,” the filing says.