Police investigating report about Utah AG candidate
A former Utah attorney general candidate said one of his fellow candidates offered him a job in exchange for an endorsement.
Former Republican candidate Trent Christensen filed a police report with Murray City last week alleging fellow GOP attorney general candidate Frank Mylar said if Christensen endorsed him, he would be included in Mylar’s office. Murray police declined to release the report.
When contacted Tuesday, Mylar said the message was mistakenly sent and said he quickly retracted it. Mylar told the Deseret News he was exhausted from being at a trial and attending campaign events, and he thought Christensen had dropped out of the race.
Both Christensen and Mylar were running for Utah attorney general at the time. Mylar is still a candidate.
“In the morning, just before heading to court, I was drafting a text, that was sort of a stream of consciousness statement about the campaign and in that text, I asked him to endorse me before the state convention and I would find a place for him in the office,” said Mylar. “I did not know whether I had actually sent that text because I was going into court again.”
A few hours later when Mylar realized he sent the message, he said, “I immediately retracted the text to Trent, said it was a mistake, that I was in trial, and it was a mistake and not an offer.”
The Deseret News filed a GRAMA request with the Murray Police Department to obtain the police report. In response to the request, the public information officer on Friday said, “It has been assigned to a Detective and is currently an open case and not available for release during the active investigation.”
Ryan Cowley, director of elections in the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office, said in a statement to the Deseret News, “We are aware of the complaint and the report that was filed with Murray City police. We do not conduct or comment on criminal investigations.”
A screenshot of the conversation between Mylar and Christensen was shared with the Deseret News.
The initial text message sent at 8:03 a.m. said, “Hey Trent. In my last day of trial and by God’s grace my campaign has picked up more steam. I won Weber and was there only 10 minutes. Overwhelmingly won Davis. If you could endorse me before the convention I would definitely include you in my office. Think about it for a few days. Thx. Good luck today.”
By 2:21 p.m. the same day, Mylar texted Christensen again and said he didn’t mean to send the text message and said it was not an offer. He said he was in trial and had mistakenly sent the message. Christensen responded and said “All good. Give me a call when you have a second. You’re good Frank.”
“I called him, reiterated that it was a mistake, should not have been sent and I was in trial at the time,” Mylar told the Deseret News. “He said it was all good and he understood, and he had no problem with me and would not say anything about it to anyone.”
Christensen said in the phone call he and Mylar did not speak about the text.
From when the text message was sent on April 19 onward, Mylar and Christensen said they had minimal communication. “After that I never did anything to ask for his support. I never talked to him except to say good luck at the convention. I never solicited his support at the convention, even after I won the first round. He is not supporting me now,” said Mylar.
Christensen said, “I think we spoke face-to-face maybe one more time and it was just pleasantries.”
When the Deseret News asked Christensen why he filed the police report, he said, “As a member of the bar, I had an ethical duty to report it both to the police and to the bar. It took me some time to get through convention and kind of get everything settled down, but when I went back through things I saw and knew I had to report it. It was the right thing to do.”
