Were Conceal Carry Permits Traded for Campaign Cash
Transcripts from Santa Clara County’s grand jury year-long probe into a possible pay-to-play scheme involving hard-to-get concealed carry weapons permits show many people agreed to pay thousands of dollars to Sheriff Laurie Smith’s political campaign in exchange for the coveted gun permits. Though she pleaded the Fifth before the grand jury, Sheriff Smith has denied wrongdoing and her political consultant today called the entire probe a “political hatchet job” adding the Sheriff “did nothing wrong.” Five people including high ranking Sheriff’s Capt. James Jensen and a prominent attorney who worked with Sheriff Smith, were indicted by the grand jury on August 5, 2020, on various bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery charges. On Monday, Santa Clara County’s District Court released transcripts of the grand jury’s deliberations in the case that date back through the COVID crisis into 2019. For nearly a year, the grand jury investigated the alleged scheme to ...
