VIDEO: Wilson Says Attorney General’s Office Has Nothing to Hide

S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson defended his decision to fire special prosecutor David Pascoe this week

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson addressed the media Wednesday, in the wake of his firing of special prosecutor David Pascoe. Wilson removed Pascoe from his appointment Friday, after Pascoe initiated a state grand jury investigation, without telling Wilson. Wilson said the law requires him to sign off on such an investigation.

Wilson said that despite his dismissal of Pascoe, who still serves at the prosecutor for the 1st judicial circuit, he fully intends to follow through with the grand jury investigation.

“I’m here to tell you there will be a state grand jury investigation,” Wilson said Wednesday, “but it has to be done lawfully and by someone who is not tainted.”

Wilson said there have been numerous times in the past nine months, where information, only someone on the inside of the attorney general’s office would know, has been leaked to the press. Most recently, he said a The State reporter showed up at the S.C. Supreme Court within hours of Pascoe filing pleadings against the attorney general’s office.

Wilson said up until last week, he had not talked to Pascoe in six months. Wilson recused himself from this case when he hired Pascoe, citing potential conflicts of interest. Wilson says when he found out about the grand jury investigation, he reached out to Pascoe to talk and never heard back.

Tuesday, Wilson asked Fifth Circuit Solicitor Dan Johnson to take over the case Tuesday. Johnson replied in a letter the next day, writing, “substantive questions have been raised regarding whether your office has the authority to grant me jurisdiction to prosecute this matter…therefore, I will defer any action regarding this matter until it is resolved before the Supreme Court.”

Wilson said he respects Johnson’s decision, but does not agree with it.

At the press conference Wednesday, Wilson revealed that Pascoe was not his first choice for the job, back in the summer of 2014; he wasn’t even his fifth choice. He was simply, the only solicitor who would take on the case.

“Now I had reservations, as did members of my staff, about solicitor pascoe’s temperament and how difficult he was to work with, but he was competent and he was all we had.”