Texas judge probed for funneling $11M in taxpayer money to ally who has ties with prominent Dems
By bellecarter // 2023-12-06
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A Texas judge is under investigation for allegedly rigging a pandemic outreach contract worth $11 million so it would be awarded to one of her political allies – who has ties with several prominent Democrats and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The Public Corruption Investigation Unit (PCIU) of the Texas Rangers announced on Nov. 9 that it obtained search warrants for documents, in relation to a probe by the Harris County District Attorney's Office into County Judge Lina Hidalgo. The PCIU accused Hidalgo of witness tampering, intent to conceal evidence and the misuse of emergency authorization powers to bypass the county's contract voting process. It also expressed plans to take the findings to a grand jury. Based on the search warrants obtained by the Epoch Times, Hidalgo allegedly took advantage of her position as county judge to direct $11 million worth of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outreach money to Elevate Strategies. The firm is owned by Hidalgo's political ally Felicity Pereyra, who has been linked to various Democratic campaigns. Pereyra served as the deputy data director for the Obama for America campaign in 2012. Four years later, she served as the analytics director for the Hillary for America campaign. Following that 2016 stint, Pereyra joined the DNC as its director of data between 2017 and 2018. Moreover, the warrant stated that Hidalgo communicated with Pereyra about the contract's availability before it was publicly announced. When she believed that the county commissioner might not approve the allocation of funds, Hidalgo used her emergency authorization powers to bypass the voting process and award it to Elevate Strategies. The country judge had previously bragged about an influential list of Democrats who have backed her, including First Lady Jill Biden and liberal playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. "Whether it's the White House or the Harris County Judge's Office, there appears to be an epidemic of corruption among high-level Democratic officials," said Harris County Republican Party Chairwoman Cindy Siegel said in a statement.

Hidalgo claims to be a victim of "dirty politics"

Aside from Hidalgo herself, three of her staffers – former chief of staff Alex Triantaphyllis, policy director Wallis Nader and policy aide Aaron Dunn – are also under investigation. They were indicted on two felony counts in 2022 after being accused of helping the smaller firm get the contract. As per the new search warrants, the three members used their phones to discuss the contract with Pereyra and refused to disclose this fact to investigators. Moreover, the PCIU accused Hidalgo of editing and/or erasing documents relative to the contract. They also accused her of failing to turn over correspondence she was initially asked for in the criminal investigation into her staffers. Hidalgo denied the claims that her office did not turn over information requested by authorities. "Any documents that they requested, all of us would have done our very best to hand over," she said. "If they asked for it, we would have sent it. If they asked for it and somebody didn't send it, they made a mistake, it got buried in all of this stuff, they could reach out. Everybody knows that you don't mess with these things. You give them whatever they want." On Nov. 10, the day after the search warrants were served, Hidalgo held a press conference to deny wrongdoing. She claimed to be a victim of "dirty politics" and accused Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg of abusing the power of her office for political reasons. "She's abused the power of her office the way a bully would abuse size on a playground," Hidalgo said. "With her panicking about her March 5 primary and the fact that she's behind, it's pretty clear she wants to make a splash." The county judge said she believes the investigation emerged following a poll showing Ogg was in a tight race against her primary challenger, former county prosecutor Sean Teare, in the 2024 elections. Despite being the incumbent, the poll released by the Teare campaign showed Ogg lagging behind the former prosecutor by four points. (Related: Thrive Time Show: Seth Keshel says CORRUPTION of U.S. election system has been ongoing since the 1990s – Brighteon.TV.) Visit Corruption.news for more similar stories. Watch Alex Rosen of "Predator Poachers" confront Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who was allegedly also involved in election fraud. This video is from the Know What's Right channel on Brighteon.com.

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