Republican former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder – now serving a 20-year prison sentence for corruption – plans to ask incoming president Trump for clemency for his conviction in the House Bill 6 nuclear power plant ballot scandal. And his lawyer said he may ask for a full pardon.
Householder has been in federal prison since he was convicted last year of leading a scheme to use $61 million in bribes from FirstEnergy to pass the billion-dollar nuclear power plant bailout in 2019. Householder was found guilty alongside former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges, who began serving five years in prison after his sentencing. Householder got the maximum sentence.
Householder’s lawyer Scott Pullins said he thinks Trump will be receptive to the request.
“We think it'll get his attention because Speaker Householder has always had a good relationship with President Trump and the former administration," Pullins said. "And if you really look at the case and you look past the headlines and all the online anger, Speaker Householder's case is very, very similar to some of the things that President Trump went through."
"He certainly understands what it's like to go to trial with a biased Democrat judge," Pullins added. "He certainly understands when the federal justice department tries to use the legal process to interfere in the political process.”
Jurors deliberated for nine hours before convicting Householder and Borges following a trial in federal court in Cincinnati that went on for six weeks and included more than a thousand exhibits and 25 witnesses. Judge Timothy Black blasted Householder as “a bully with a lust for power” who disregarded the Ohioans he represented and added before sentencing Householder: "I have no sense that you grasp the harm that you caused."
Pullins said he thinks the easiest move would be for Trump to commute Householder's sentence so he could leave prison, and then a pardon could be pursued. But Pullins noted Householder is still appealing his conviction, and "the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals could look at the case and see what really happened and vacate the conviction."
Even if Trump does commute his sentence or issue a pardon, Householder is still facing state charges of lying on ethics disclosure forms and using campaign money to pay his legal fees.
And again, Pullins said there's similarity with the state's case against Householder and Trump's 34 felony convictions in a criminal case in Manhattan over falsifying business records to conceal payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
"We think that's a lot of hypocrisy there, the 10 felony counts that should have been misdemeanors, and the statute of limitations have all run on those misdemeanors," Pullins said of the charges filed earlier this year. "It's very, very similar to what Donald Trump faced with Alvin Bragg and the 34 felony convictions."
Householder, who has pleaded not guilty to those state charges, is set for trial in Cuyahoga County in April.
