Kentucky's GOP governor hopeful took cash from officials he was investigating as AG: report

Kentucky's GOP governor hopeful and Attorney General Daniel Cameron has been accused of taking cash from officials his office was investigating.

The Daily Beast uncovered donations of $6,900 made to Cameron's office in March and April from people who run an addiction recovery center that was being investigated by the state, it reported. The donations came at the end of an investigation by his office, which began in 2022, but it wasn't until an open records request by the Beast that he recused himself from the investigation.

The Daily Beast reported that the open records request was sent to his office on May 17, and he announced he was recusing himself on May 19.

To make matters worse, Cameron attacked a local judge for doing the exact same thing at the same time. According to Cameron, an elected state judge took a $250 campaign donation from a lawyer that had a case before him.

Cameron was disgusted at the ethics breach, the Daily Beast reported.

“These facts, individually and together, could cause a reasonable observer to question the impartiality or bias of the presiding judge,” Cameron said.

He made the comment at the same time he was committing the same ethical breach he objected to, according to the Daily Beast. One week later was when Cameron recused himself.

"The full timeline of events raises questions about Cameron’s conflict of interest, what he knew, and when," the Beast noted. "It will also almost certainly add fuel to bipartisan accusations that the outspoken, politically polarizing, Trump-supporting Republican has abused the power of his office during his tenure."

Edgewater Recovery Center is being investigated by the Kentucky Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse, which is under Cameron's office. He scored cash from the owner of the recovery center, the company's lawyer, directors of the medical unit, workers in HR and the clinical practices.

There are no other campaigns that Cameron has run in which he obtained contributions from any of those donors, the Daily Beast reported.

Cameron's offices said that the recusal was only out of "an abundance of caution."

Cameron moved to return the donations from all of the Edgewater employees, but not before the primary election was over. The date that the refunds happened occurred was five days after the Beast asked his office for more details about the investigation into Edgewater. Two days after the donations were returned on June 14, the AG's office replied to the June 9 request for information.

Read the full report from the Daily Beast.