Election Fraud: Scott Taylor for Congress
After an investigation found hundreds of falsified signatures on a 3rd-party candidate's ballot petition, one former Republican Congressman's entire campaign staff has been indicted or convicted on dozens of counts related to election fraud. Fmr Congressman Scott Taylor (VA-02) also remains under investigation. Michael and Thomas take a Thanksgiving break from their usual interview format to bring you up-to-date on a real Virginia political true crime.
Michael Pope
I'm Michael Pope.
Thomas Bowman
I'm Thomas Bowman.
Michael Pope
And this is Transition Virginia.
Thomas Bowman
Michael, do you know which podcast genre is most popular these days?
Michael Pope
Well, it's gotta be like political commentary and news, right?
Thomas Bowman
No, absolutely not news commentary.
Michael Pope
What? It's not it's not Transition Virginia? Well, then what the heck is it?
Thomas Bowman
Get this. The most popular podcast genre is true crime.
Michael Pope
True Crime. Well, Virginia politics is full of true crime. Maybe we should do a true crime about Virginia politics?
Thomas Bowman
That's exactly what we're doing today. This time, I've done some digging into an ongoing scandal, and you're going to hear it, basically, for the first time, and this is a doozy. So buckle in, everybody.
Michael Pope
All right. I'm buckled and prepared for turbulence.
Thomas Bowman
Okay, great. This story takes place in the coastal city of Virginia Beach, where a person who was the sitting member of the House of Representatives, and a former Navy SEAL, allegedly, ordered his campaign staff to commit fraud so he could win reelection to a second term. This is the story of former Republican Congressman, Scott Taylor. According to court documents in June 2018, Lauren Peabody attended a meeting with other members of Virginia Beach Congressman Scott Taylor's campaign staff. Peabody, in her early 20s, is relatively inexperienced. If you're trying to get a mental image together, she's got blonde hair and a small frame. Congressman Taylor had called Lauren, and the rest of his campaign staff, to his Washington D.C. office to discuss what their strategy should be after a woman named Shaun Brown announced she would run for the office as an independent. That meeting included at least three other campaign staff, in addition to Lauren, and Congressman Taylor, Roberta Marciano, Heather Guillot, and Taylor's campaign consultant, Rob Catron. Rob Catron worked at an Arlington PR firm, but he had been close with Scott Taylor ever since his first election to the House of Representatives in 2013, where Catron was on his staff. During that meeting, his campaign team decided to make what prosecutors said was a, "concerted effort," to get Brown on the ballot.
Michael Pope
Wait, wait, hold on, Thomas, concerted effort. What the heck does that mean?
Thomas Bowman
Well, the campaign decided that, as part of its election strategy, it would use its resources to help Brown get on the ballot by helping her collect a portion of the 1000 signatures she needed to qualify. Now, what isn't clear is whether the campaign team already had the petitions in hand for this meeting, or whether they just decided to collect them at the meeting. And that fact is actually a core question in this case.
Michael Pope
But wait, why would they do that? Why would this campaign help a different campaign?
Thomas Bowman
Well, Taylor faced stiff competition from Democratic candidate Elaine Luria that year. And in 2018, the Republican Party, nationally, was desperate to keep their majority in the House of Representatives. Polling indicated that Democrats were likely to win dozens of seats. And of course they did, thanks to waves of new activists energized by former President Donald Trump's historic unpopularity.
Michael Pope
Okay, so Taylor's team believed that if they could get Brown on the ballot, enough people might vote for her, and, essentially, take away votes from Luria. And that would leave Scott Taylor as the winner of the election? That's the plan?
Thomas Bowman
Right. At least, that's what lawyers for the Virginia Democrats allege.
Michael Pope
Okay, but that's not a crime, right? I mean, you can collect petitions, and you can collect signatures, for whatever reason that you want. So how do we go from collecting petition signatures, to prosecutors getting involved in this?
Thomas Bowman
A few weeks later, around the first of August, a local public radio affiliate WHRO, reported it had found five fraudulent signatures on petitions for Shaun Brown. After WHRO published the story, independent audits by some other local press found over 50 fraudulent signatures on Browns ballot petitions. By this time, the news is everywhere in the Virginia political world, and the State Police launched their own investigation with the Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney, Colin Stolle. But there is one big problem. Colin Stolle's relative is Ken Stolle, the Sheriff of Virginia Beach, and not only had Ken Stolle signed one of these petitions, but also he apparently circulated the petitions around the entire Virginia Beach Sheriff's Department. So, Colin Stolle, the Commonwealth's Attorney, decided to recuse himself. He asked a judge to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the fraudulent petition signatures. The judge agreed and appointed a guy named Don Caldwell, he's the Commonwealth's Attorney for Roanoke. This happened August 7, so at this point, they're moving pretty quickly. On September 5, Special Prosecutor Caldwell, announced investigators found not five, not 50, but 377 fraudulent petition signatures, and the sworn witnesses were none other than Lauren Peabody, Heather Guillot, and Roberta Marciano. The agenda discussed at the June meeting that Lauren Peabody attended with Congressman Scott Taylor, has led, so far, to four indictments, three guilty pleas, and an investigation of the entire campaign that remains ongoing.
Michael Pope
Alright, so is there any evidence that Congressman Taylor and Shaun Brown colluded on any of this?
Thomas Bowman
At this point, Special Prosecutor Don Caldwell said he found, quote, "No collusion between Taylor and Brown." And he laid out the facts of the case as we've presented here. And I should mention that, supporting documents are available online, and we'll also link them in the description below. Caldwell told The Washington Post that what actually happened within the campaign headquarters, is still a subject of investigation due to the lack of cooperation of key individuals.
Michael Pope
Lack of cooperation?
Thomas Bowman
That's right. At this point in the investigation, everybody involved pleaded the fifth. So when lawyers tried to subpoena Congressman Taylor, the judge quashed the motion, citing a statute that sitting members of Congress cannot be made to testify during the legislative session. Scott Taylor continues to deny all knowledge of any crimes saying, quote, "[he] was in D.C. when this all happened."
Michael Pope
So Taylor says he did not know the signatures were forged, but that campaign meeting happened in his office in D.C., right?
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, things are going sideways, even more sideways, for Scott Taylor now. Lawyers for the campaign stipulated to the facts that this meeting did, in fact take place. The campaign staff however, all pled the fifth when asked specifically if Scott Taylor was directly involved.
Michael Pope
So what did the judge do?
Thomas Bowman
Well, Shaun Brown, now the independent candidate, testified that she had no knowledge of the Taylor campaigns activities. She needed 1000 signatures to qualify for the ballot, and turned in over 1100. However, since 377 of them were fraudulent, the judge removed Brown's name from the ballot altogether. But wait, there's more. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, Brown had also used three false addresses on forms she submitted to gain access to the ballot. So Brown comes out of this smelling pretty fishy herself.
Michael Pope
Now wait, Thomas, my math is not great. But if she weren't involved, wouldn't that mean that she knew she didn't have the math? In other words, didn't have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot?
Thomas Bowman
Well, it's possible but not necessarily. Brown could very well have believed she was turning in more than 1000 signatures, but later had some of them invalidated by the Department of Elections, because the signers either didn't reside in the district or weren't registered to vote.
Michael Pope
Hmm. So what do we make of her comments here? Do we think she's telling the truth?
Thomas Bowman
Well, as of right now, there's no evidence to think she's lying about this, but she is a convicted liar. Because one month later, in October 2018, Shaun Brown was convicted of defrauding the USDA Summer Food Service Program of $800,000, back in 2012. She's currently serving her sentence for that, and fraud convictions do negatively impact your credibility.
Michael Pope
So Scott Taylor lost that election to Elaine Luria in November. So what happened after that?
Thomas Bowman
Overall, 2019 was a quiet year for the Taylor campaign, except for, of course, a few big things. In January, Trump appointed Scott Taylor as Ambassador to Qatar. Trump said that Taylor had done consulting work in the country back in 2017 and 2018, and so he knew the local culture well. Now, during that time, Scott Taylor was a sitting congressman, and apparently acting as a consultant to a foreign government. Later it came out that Rudy Giuliani himself lobbied for Trump to appoint Taylor.
Michael Pope
Why would Giuliani lobby Trump to appoint Taylor?
Thomas Bowman
You know, I actually got my hands on a copy of the DCC's opposition research book for Scott Taylor. According to that oppo book, Giuliani thought Taylor would be a better fit for Ambassador than a career diplomat, because he was more supportive of Trump's agenda. Giuliani met with Taylor and offered to help usher him through the nomination process, and Taylor claimed that Trump approved of the nomination. A lobbyist for the Qatari government reached out to Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's office the day that news of Taylor's nomination was leaked to the press. Trump had abandoned the nomination of a career diplomat in favor of Scott Taylor.
Michael Pope
But Taylor never became Ambassador, right?
Thomas Bowman
Taylor was, ultimately, never nominated, and the position was left unfilled. As far as Taylor goes, this isn't his first time with shady foreign dealings. After Taylor lost reelection, he reported income from businesses associated with Qatar and other controversies. In 2019, Taylor reported income from Stonington Global LLC, a firm headed by someone named Nick Muzin. Muzin did work for the Qatari government. He was associated with Michael Flynn, and he'd been scrutinized for being paid for foreign lobbying work through a quote, "shadow firm." In 2018, Muzin was accused of participating in an alleged Qatari conspiracy to steal and distribute a Republican donors private emails to embarrass him. In 2017, Stonington Global LLC registered to lobby for the Democratic Party of Albania. Their president was charged with money laundering in 2019. And according to a FARA filing, Taylor met with Muzin's clients, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior for the Qatari government as a member of Congress. Also in 2019, Taylor reported income from Espada Inc. They're a security and logistic support company that was accused of encouraging vigilantism in 2010, and was sued by a paramedic in 2019 for not paying wages.
Michael Pope
Thomas, all this stuff sounds really, really shady.
Thomas Bowman
You know, I've got a feeling there's a lot more to this story, given the people involved. But, let's get back to the case at hand. On May 7, 2019, the Special Prosecutor filed charges against Lauren Peabody for two counts of election fraud. He also refused to say whether Taylor had broken the law when the press asked him that directly. In July, Taylor announced he would run for Senate against Mark Warner, but later withdrew in December to run for his old congressional seat. That set up a rematch against, now representative, Elaine Luria, and that's when this case really starts to heat up for Scott Taylor.
The bottom drops out for Taylor in 2020. At the beginning of March, Lauren Peabody pled guilty to quote, "willful neglect of election duties," for failing to actually witness the petition signatures. So, she got a plea deal, because her attorneys say that she wasn't actually the one who collected the fraudulent signatures. The judge sentenced Peabody to a suspended sentence of 12 months, with no jail time, and a $1,000 fine. A week later, Special Prosecutor Caldwell charged a second campaign staffer, Roberta Marciano, with two counts of election fraud. By now, Luria is running attack ads against Taylor all day long, hitting him for the convictions, and the accusations. Taylor responded in August by sending her a cease and desist letter.
Michael Pope
I'm assuming she ignored the cease and desist letter?
Thomas Bowman
Apparently so. I actually spoke to a person who worked on this campaign, and they said it was interpreted as a, "desperate legal ploy," and quickly made moot, which I'll come back to. Also, at some point in mid 2020, the Special Prosecutor changes from Don Caldwell, to the Assistant Commonwealth Attorney for Virginia Beach, John Beamer.
Michael Pope
Why did the prosecutors switch?
Thomas Bowman
You know, that's the one thing I really couldn't find an answer to. I'm not sure why they switched, but, my personal guess is, that it's no longer an issue to have someone underneath Colin Stolle overseeing the investigation, since the sheriff's signatures were apparently legitimate.
Michael Pope
So, on the issue of signatures, I remembered that some of those names of the signatures ended up being kind of interesting names, right?
Thomas Bowman
There were some interesting signatures forged. Some of the signatures were from dead people, some notable living people who claim the Taylor campaign forged their signatures, include sitting delegates, Glenn Davis and his wife, as well as Barry Knight.
Michael Pope
Forging the signatures of sitting elected officials? That's pretty bold.
Thomas Bowman
That's very bold. That's part of what makes this story so fascinating to me, Michael. Why did the campaign feel comfortable forging signatures of people who the press would definitely have followed up with when they audited those petitions?
Michael Pope
Hmm. I don't know. Why would they?
Thomas Bowman
Right, like, that's why it's so fascinating. So then the investigation goes quiet again over the summer, and we'll find out later, that the prosecutor spent that time negotiating a similar plea deal with Marciano. But first, on September 9, the new Special Prosecutor, John Beamer, charged Heather Guillot, with making false statements, and felony election fraud. At this point, Beamer says everyone on Taylor's campaign staff remains under investigation. And he specified that Scott Taylor was part of that campaign. That specific development is what made the cease and desist letter from Taylor's campaign to Luria's a moot point.
Michael Pope
So by September 2020, which is only like two months before the election, Taylor is under investigation? Is that right?
Thomas Bowman
Yes. Beamer went out of his way to say Taylor was under investigation. Because up until that point, Scott Taylor continued to deny any knowledge of the criminal conspiracy, and he was spinning the events as him acting swiftly to fire the people responsible, after their actions came to light, which nobody disputes he fired them after they got caught. To me, it seems like he's fired them because they got caught. And he needed to deflect liability away from his campaign. Because right after that, Roberta Marciano, the second campaign staffer, pled guilty, also to willful neglect of election duties.
Michael Pope
Okay, so, what's our scorecard here? Peabody and Marciano are convicted after taking the plea deal. Heather Guillot is indicted on the same charges Peabody and Marciano originally were indicted for. Is that kind of where we are at this point?
Thomas Bowman
That's where we are at this point. In September 2020, there are three indictments and two convictions against Taylor's campaign staff.
Michael Pope
Okay, so a few months later, in November 2020, Congressman, former Congressman Taylor lost a second time to Elaine Luria, but the whole time, he had that cloud hanging over his head, right? Didn't that make the second election kind of difficult for him?
Thomas Bowman
Yeah and I think the clues in the initial 2018 court filing, where the judge said a sitting congressman couldn't be subpoenaed, while Congress was in session. At this point, Taylor knows the prosecutors are closing in. And you don't want to be the person that prosecutors don't offer a plea deal to.
Michael Pope
A congressman can't be subpoenaed while Congress is in session?
Thomas Bowman
According to the judge, yeah. So fast forward to this year, 2021. On March 30, Guillot pled guilty to falsifying election petitions also under a similar plea deal.
Michael Pope
Okay, so we've got three people who have taken, three former staffers, campaign staffers, who have taken the plea deal. What about the other guy?
Thomas Bowman
Rob Catron. This is the campaign consultant that Scott Taylor referenced when he said he fired the people responsible back in 2018. Specifically, Taylor said he did it, "When his actions came to light." Catron was in Scott Taylor's inner circle, and had worked for him since his first election in 2013.
Michael Pope
So what happened to him?
Thomas Bowman
On June 21, 2021, the special prosecutor indicted Catron on 10 counts of making a false statement, and felony election fraud.
Michael Pope
10 counts of election fraud and making false statements? That's a lot more than the plea deals, which, essentially, ended up being a misdemeanor. So why so much more serious for this guy?
Thomas Bowman
Right? Well, we're recording this just before Thanksgiving 2021, and this is where the case stands today. If the prosecutors are really after Taylor, then we might expect to see a similar plea bargain and conviction for Catron in the coming months. Unless he's one of the big fish?
Michael Pope
So are there more shoes to drop with this case?
Thomas Bowman
There's nobody else mentioned in the available court documents. But recall how I consulted someone on Luria's campaign? This person said key members of Taylor's official Hill staff were also at that meeting, including, at least, his chief of staff. Catron stayed out of court records up until this year. So it is possible there's more people involved.
Michael Pope
But it's also possible that there aren't more people involved, right?
Thomas Bowman
And, of course, there's still Scott Taylor. At this point, it seems like prosecutors are working their way up the chain to Scott Taylor, as everyone else in that meeting has been indicted or convicted.
Michael Pope
Well, Thomas, this has been fascinating. Thanks for researching this case, to keep us up to date on this story. Now, we want to be responsible consumers of true crime, we should probably stress this is still an active investigation. So more information could come to light, and probably will, that could change the trajectory of this case.
Thomas Bowman
That's right, Michael, and the local Commonwealth's Attorney's Office in Virginia Beach, has a number for you to call if you've got any relevant information to the case, that number is 757-385-4401. Again, call 757-385-4401, if you've got information relevant to the case. This was the story of former Congressman Scott Taylor.
Michael Pope
Thanks for listening to Transition Virginia. If you like what you heard, give us a five star review. It helps other people find the show. We'll be back next week, so subscribe to the show so you don't miss a single episode.
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