Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump
During the four years of the Donald Trump presidency, a small army of Alabamians -- one could call them "lackeys" -- maintained close ties to the White House. Many of them had connections to the North Birmingham bribery scandal, which still is generating plumes of foul odor. Now is the time for federal invesgigators to sift through the wreckage and sort out the bad actors, asserts banbalch.com Publisher K.B. Forbes -- and he even provides a handy roadmap. Under the headline "Is the U.S. Department of Justice Probing Trump-Era Lackeys from Alabama?" Forbes writes:
Since November, we have been told by high-level sources that a federal investigation is ongoing in Birmingham and focused on “obstruction” and other alleged crimes. Balch & Bingham appears to be in disarray, suffering from internal strife since late last year and we know that something is going on.
In Tuesday’s post, we outlined five areas that could potentially lead to more federal indictments.
Today, we list a cast of characters that should be interviewed by federal investigators.
Undoubtedly, backers, insiders, lackeys, and stooges from Alabama who were tied to the Trump Administration appear to have tried to protect their web of power, allegedly obstruct justice, possibly cover up alleged criminal acts, and limit additional investigations during the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal, Trial, and aftermath.
Let's take a numerical look at Forbes' scorecard, which includes a number of characters who might develop tight sphincters if the feds come knocking on doors. We start with a pair who forever will be joined at the hip in symbolizing the toxic fumes that envelop Alabama's corporate, political, and courthouse environments:
(1) Jay Town and Mark Crosswhite --
The photos of Alabama Power CEO and former Balch partner Mark A. Crosswhite enjoying refreshing cocktails at the Moon Shine Lounge with then-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, allegedly at the height of the North Birmingham Bribery Trial, symbolize the enormous power, bottomless financial resources, and unlimited influence Alabama Power has.
The ties between the Three Stooges (Balch, Alabama Power, and Drummond) and the Trump Administration were intensely close.
The common denominator is the Trump Administration appointees, such as . . .
(2) Jeff Sessions --
When President Donald J. Trump, as a candidate, was to be endorsed by then-U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions in 2016, the original venue was to be at the hangar of Black Hall Aerospace in Huntsville, a Balch & Bingham client.
Sessions' number one lifetime donor was Alabama Power, while his number two lifetime donor was Alabama Power’s sister-wife Balch & Bingham, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Sessions' high profile leads to . . .
(3) Jeffrey H. Wood --
After Trump’s victory in 2016, Jeff Sessions became U.S. Attorney General and Balch partner Jeffrey H. Wood, a lobbyist who was on Capitol Hill on behalf of Alabama Power at the height of the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal in 2016, was nominated as Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). From Sessions and Wood, the Alabama-related appointments started flowing like a raging river, leading to . . .
(4) Luther Strange --
Balch stooge and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange was appointed U.S. Senator in February of 2017 after Sessions became U.S. Attorney General. The biggest, if not smelliest, alleged crime we uncovered was the $25,000 contribution alleged bribe to Luther Strange that was allegedly hand-delivered by the Drummond family to Strange after he signed and sent a letter drafted by Balch against the North Birmingham CERCLA matter, on official Alabama Attorney General letterhead. Beyond the alleged bribe contribution to Strange, federal authorities should look at the alleged “just-cut-a-check-and-don’t-ask-questions” bribery ring involving some of the most powerful corporations in Alabama. Each and every executive at Drummond, including “confused” General Cousel Blake Andrews, every member of Drummond’s Board of Directors, and all Drummond family members involved with the company need to be interrogated by federal investigators. Then, along came . . .
(5) Trey Glenn --
Trey Glenn, the former Executive Director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and a Balch & Bingham consultant, was appointed EPA Administrator for the Region Four in August of 2017. Glenn lasted about a year on the job, and he could make for a terrific federal witness. Here's why: In November of 2020, AL.com reported that Glenn had struck a plea deal in his criminal ethics case writing:
Last week, [Glenn] pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor violations of the Alabama Ethics Act. As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped felony charges against him, and he won’t spend any time in jail. Instead, he must pay $10,000 in fines and keep his nose clean during two years of unsupervised probation.“Part of the understanding is that Mr. Glenn will testify truthfully in any matter in which we call him and subpoena him as a witness,” Alabama Ethics Commission General Counsel Cynthia Raulston told the court.
From there, our roadmap circles back to . . .
That summer of 2017, Jay E. Town was nominated and confirmed as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Town arrived from the Richard Shelby orbit to become an important Trump ally and appointee. But he seemed to step into prosecutorial doo-doo: (a) Town allegedly told others, according to sources, that his nomination was confirmed too late in 2017 by the U.S. Senate for him to kill the North Birmingham Bribery Trial and that some would have to stand trial; (b) Town appears to have cut a secret deal to keep Alabama Power “unmentionable” during the trial; (c) After the criminal convictions in 2018, Town refused to expand the North Birmingham Bribery investigation and declared that Balch’s Joel I. Gilbert and ex-Drummond executive David Roberson were “lone wolves,” which law enforcement officers and others saw as a betrayal; (d) Town never pursued additional charges or suspects in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal. Consultants Trey Glenn and Scott Phillips were left free until both of them were indicted by a local grand jury in Jefferson County for ethics violation in 2018; (e) Town never pursued Luther Strange or investigated the alleged bribe $25,000 contribution; (f) Town allegedly blocked four different FBI investigations of the Newsome Conspiracy Case; (g) Knowing there are no such things as coincidences, the half-baked deposition with Verizon in the Newsome Conspiracy Case appears to be a centerpiece in the alleged dirty work linked to Town; (h) And what law firm represents Verizon regularly? McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter in Morristown, New Jersey, just one mile away from Verizon’s Corporate Headquarters. And who worked for McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter before his career as a prosecutor? Jay E. Town. We can't think about Town without thinking of his drinking buddy . . .
(7) Mark Crosswhite -- And that brings us to the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. During the 2019-2020 election cycle, the single largest contribution from Alabama Power Employees Federal PAC went to the Rule of Law Defense Fund, the entity that launched robocalls the day before the insurrection mob marched to, and desecrated, the U.S. Capitol. The robocall stated, “The March to Save America is tomorrow in Washington, D.C…. At 1:00 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” according to The Washington Post. In addition, allegedly Alabama Power had a secret deal where it was “unmentionable” during the North Birmingham Bribery criminal trial. Alabama Power was the only entity that donated to the money-laundering entity known as the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE) that did NOT testify during the trial in 2018. Was the utility and its agents “unindicted masterminds?” Alabama Power was briefed regularly about the North Birmingham shenanigans. Crosswhite boasted in 2016 that he enjoys being the final decision maker as the leader of the utility. When speaking to investigators, will Crosswhite admit he made the final decision to funnel $25,000 to the Rule of Law entity or will he blame others? Will he even acknowledge an alleged secret deal with the Office of the U.S. Attorney or will that remain unmentionable?
How did the Alabama lackeys fare once they became enmeshed in Trump World? Not so well, as Forbes notes:
- Strange was defeated in 2017;
- Sessions was fired in 2018 and lost his election for U.S. Senate in 2020;
- Trey Glenn resigned in 2018 and was indicted shortly thereafter by a local grand jury;
- Wood was shown the door in 2019;
- Jay E. Town resigned and fled in the middle of the night in 2020;
- The CEO of Balch’s client, Black Hall Aerospace, was indicted in 2020; and
- President Trump’s Economic Advisory Councils were disbanded in 2021.
As new events crackle around the Superfund scandal, individuals and entities connected to it have not exactly projected an aura of calm. Writes Forbes:
The Three Stooges (Drummond Company, Balch, and Alabama Power) fiercely sought protective orders in December of 2020 in the rebirth of the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal -- via David Roberson’s $75-million civil lawsuit, which has since been sealed in its entirety.
What are they afraid of? The Three Stooges have shown concern and vivid panic, and investigators need to probe.
Crosswhite, Town, Glenn, Strange, Sessions, Wood and others close to them should be interviewed by criminal investigators if they haven’t been already.
We know something is going on.