#TXLEGE: Is Schwertner in Deep Doo Doo?!?

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."
Ephesians 5:11

Hoo Boy:

AUSTIN — The University of Texas completed its investigation on Tuesday into whether State Sen. Charles Schwertner sent sexually explicit messages — including photos of his genitals — to a student, issuing a report that neither fully incriminates nor clears the Georgetown Republican of wrongdoing.

The same afternoon, responding to a public record request, the university released the offensive text messages and LinkedIn messages that led to the probe. Schwertner told a UT investigator that the texts came from his accounts, but were sent by a person he knows and shared his user information with, but refused to identify.

Schwertner and his attorneys said the report served as vindication for their claims that he was innocent.

"I do not condone sexual misconduct of any kind. The University of Texas has closed their investigation because I did not send the offensive text messages in question," Schwertner said in a prepared statement.

The university reported it could not prove Schwertner sent the offensive messages, and a forensic investigation found that they did not come from his phone. However, the messages did come from Schwertner's Hushed account, a privacy app that allows people to send messages from separate phone numbers, and his LinkedIn account.

The UT investigation also described Schwertner as uncooperative and unwilling to be interviewed or answer questions about whether he had other electronic devices where the messages could have originated.

Schwertner's attorneys said in a statement that they prevented him from being interviewed by the university because they considered the school's investigative process unfair.

An attorney purporting to represent a mysterious third party, whose identity was never revealed to the investigators, at some point claimed responsibility for sending the messages. Schwertner told investigators he knew this unidentified person, and shared his user name and passwords with the individual, but refused to reveal their identity in the investigation.

The university investigative report acknowledged that the unnamed person might not exist.

"We recognize that it is plausible that the Respondent [Schwertner] sent the text messages and photograph from a device other than his personal cell phone and the third person claiming responsibility is being untruthful or does not exist, but we have no evidence to support those possibilities," the investigation summary reads.

[Note: Emphasis added.]

Yikes; this story looks worse every time we re-read it.

Two possibilities exist.  Either Schwertner is lying.  Or, he could be telling the truth.  Neither is good.

If Schwertner is lying, then a 48 year old male elected official sent lewd photographs to a female college student seeking professional advice.

That would be awful.

But consider what it would mean if Schwertner's telling the truth:

• Schwertner engages in enough encrypted communication with an unnamed third party that he gave the unnamed third party access to his encryption account.
  
• Who does that?!?

• Schwertner also gave the unnamed third party access to his LinkedIn account.

• Again, who does that?!?

• The third party in question had a motive to burn Schwertner in the most publicly humiliating way possible.
  
• What, as yet unknown, behavior on Schwertner's part could have produced such a motive?!?

• Even after having been burned in the most publicly humiliating way possible, Schwertner still refuses to identify the third party.

Pick your poison; neither one is good.

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That being said, this political cheap shot from the Democrats is cute:

On Tuesday evening, Texas Democrats jumped on the results of the report.

"These are not the actions of an innocent man," said Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Crystal Perkins. "Sen. Charles Schwertner is a liar and clearly unfit to serve in elected office."

Shut up.

You people haven't done a damn thing about Borris Miles.  You didn't lift a damn finger about Carlos Uresti until after a separate criminal conviction.  Yet, now you want to lecture the rest of us on sexual propriety?!?  Puh-leeze.

In a just world, Borris Miles and Charles Schwertner should probably both go.

In the real world, now that they're the political equivalent of "mutually assured destruction," Miles and Schwertner probably get away with everything.  We don't like it.  But that's reality.

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Bottom Line: You know it's a bad situation when you can't tell whether lying or telling the truth is worse....