Corrupt Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and her former staffers will be reimbursed nearly $900,000 in legal fees related to bid-rigging charges.
Last year Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg (D) transferred the case to Ken Paxton’s office so it didn’t ‘fall through the cracks’ when she left office this year.
However, County Commissioners voted 3-1 to reimburse Hidalgo and her three former staffers $877,402 for legals fees related to the case after a separate prosecutor dropped the charges.
Hidalgo’s office was embroiled in a bid-rigging scandal.
Lina Hidalgo’s top three staffers were indicted in April 2022 after prosecutors expanded the investigation into an $11 million ‘vaccine outreach contract’ awarded to one of the judge’s political cronies.
While Hidalgo was threatening to jail and fine people for violating her Covid rules, she was secretly trying to award one of her political cronies, Felicity Pereyra, who founded Elevate Strategies, an $11 million ‘vaccine outreach’ contract.
Hidalgo ultimately panicked and canceled the $11 million vaccine contract after questions were raised that it was with a one-person firm with no experience.
Hidalgo’s Chief of Staff Alex Triantaphyllis and Policy Director Wallis Nader along with co-defendant Aaron Dunn were charged with misuse of official information and tampering with government documents in connection with the canceled vaccine outreach contract.
Lina Hidalgo and Kim Ogg previously got into a public feud.
Hidalgo previously trashed DA Kim Ogg in a press conference after she accused her of threatening her reelection by floating a possible indictment.
Judge Hildaldo lashed out at Kim Ogg again this year after the County commissioners voted to reimburse her.
“It was a political attack,” Hidalgo said, according to Houston Public Media. “I barely won, so she almost achieved what she wanted, which was to bleed me dry to the point that I couldn’t run a proper political operation, and that’s not something that we want to allow prosecutors to do.”
Kim Ogg hit back and zinged Lina Hidalgo for her lack of knowledge about the justice system.
“The fact that the cases were later dismissed by a different prosecutor doesn’t change the fact that ordinary people heard the evidence in this case and indicted these people for contract bidding, for bid-rigging of a contract,” Ogg said, according to HPM.
“Judge Hidalgo’s lack of understanding about the criminal justice system never fails to surprise me,” Kim Ogg added. “She is not a lawyer. She has not been to the courthouse to the best of my knowledge, and she does not seem to understand the system.”
Lina Hidalgo checked herself into a treatment facility for clinical depression in summer 2023.
The post Corrupt Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Indicted Staffers Reimbursed $900,000 in Legal Fees For Charges Related to $11 Million No-Bid Covid Vaccine Outreach Contract appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.