SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Former South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley failed Tuesday to stop an investigation into whether Republican leaders of the state Senate were drinking at the Capitol during the final day of the 2020 Legislature.
Jackley is representing Senate Majority Leader Kris Langer of Dell Rapids and Senate Pro Tempore Brock Greenfield of Clark. Jackley, a Republican, tried several times to stop the investigation, warning the Senate Interim Investigation Committee that they were “on legal thin ice.”
But committee chair and retired judge Sen. Arthur Rusch, a Republican from Vermillion, overruled Jackley’s motions, the Argus Leader reported.
After Jackley’s objected to the committee viewing Capitol security camera footage, Rusch said the panel is going to proceed “in pursuit of the truth.”
At issue is where were Langer and Greenfield during a five-hour gap during a recess before the Senate voted on a coronavirus-related bill.
The committee spent more than four hours Tuesday watching Capitol security camera footage and South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Senate videos of the early hours of March 31 to build a timeline for the movements around the Capitol of Langer and Greenfield.
The committee will begin hearing witness testimony Friday. Langer and Greenfield did not speak before the committee on Tuesday.
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