Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley resigned Monday rather than face impeachment and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor campaign violations that arose during an investigation of his alleged affair with a top aide.
Bentley denied doing anything illegal or improper up until his resignation on Monday. NPR's Debbie Elliott is at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery where the governor made his statement. He was booked into the county jail, according to CNN.
Ivey, who immediately assumed the role of the governor after Bentley's resignation, will hold that position until the next general election in 2018.
Why did he resign? Collier claimed he was sacked for refusing to cover up Bentley's alleged affair.
"It lays out in sometimes sordid detail an extramarital relationship between the 74-year-old Bentley and political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason".
"Baby, let me know what I am going to do when I start locking the door", Bentley told Mason, the Huffington Post reports.
"I sure miss you". I would not vote for her for anything, but I don't want her to fail. Her husband regained the governor's seat in 1970.
Bentley fessed up, kind of. The Republican governor alienated many of his fellow Republicans in the legislature - ironically (in light of subsequent events), for morally sound reasons. "Do I love some more than others, absolutely". "I just found some obvious that things were wrong".
Bentley also repeatedly said he would not resign from office because he had done nothing wrong. Rebekah Mason claps during then-Gov.
What about those texts?
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In addition to losing his wife, the First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, which Bentley had attended for many years, told Christian News Network last year that Bentley is no longer a member of the church-and neither is Mason. "You are the only one", one message read. "But I pledge to each of you that I will do my very best", she said.
"I love that too", Bentley said in one audio recording.
"The report accuses him of using state resources, including law enforcement, to hide the affair and protect his reputation, 'in a process characterized by increasing obsession and paranoia'".
"He's been good to North Alabama in the form of economic development", Yarbrough said. The report portrayed the governor as paranoid and obsessed with trying to keep the relationship secret.
How about the legal troubles?
Bentley's lawyers had contended that the impeachment had to be delayed, so they could prepare a defense to allegations in a 131-page report released on Friday. He acknowledged wrongly using campaign money to pay nearly $9,000 for her legal bills and failing to properly report a $50,000 loan he made to his campaign. "I have spent the a year ago in deep and earnest prayer over our state and our people".
How far did they get in the impeachment hearings?
"Today we will begin a smooth transition of power in accordance with the Alabama Constitution".
Dianne Bentley filed for divorce in 2015 after 50 years of marriage, and Mason immediately resigned once the tapes became public.
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