By Breitbart News Network | Created at 2026-09-28 23:31:48 | Updated at 2026-09-29 03:44:42
7 hours ago
Soft-on-crime North Carolina Democrat Senate candidate Roy Cooper’s tenure as governor was marked by a number of scandals exposing a culture of corruption in plain sight.
Early in his tenure, Cooper used the power of his office to pressure energy companies into creating a $57.8 million slush fund as his administration held up a pipeline permit. Investigators called it “an abuse of power” in sworn testimony when Cooper’s top aides rewrote an agreement giving Cooper control over funds rather than the State of North Carolina.
A Duke Energy lobbyist said Cooper’s senior policy adviser, Ken Eudy, was not truthful when making statements to a legislative committee investigating the Cooper administration’s role in the project and slush fund, according to reporting from Carolina Journal.
According to the report, investigators said it would be reasonable to conclude Cooper used the power of his office to pressure ACP developers into creating a fund as a condition for getting an environmental permit. The report also concluded, “the information suggests that criminal violations may have occurred.”
WATCH — Former RNC Chairman: Roy Cooper Is “the Worst Governor in the History of North Carolina”:
The pipeline debacle also wraps in a questionable deal benefiting solar farm property owned by Cooper and his family. By industry standards, Cooper’s shady arrangement could have benefited him over $1 million.
Charlotte-based WBTV reported:
The decision by Cooper and senior staff to use the pipeline permit as leverage to force Duke into cutting a deal with the state’s solar industry is documented in text messages, emails and memos included in a 19,216-page document dump released by the administration.
Cooper and senior officials said his negotiations over the pipeline permit between the state government and Duke Energy and the energy giant’s solar deals were separate issues. “But text messages and documents released by the Governor’s Office in December show otherwise,” WTBV reported.
Not only did Cooper insert his administration into this matter, he also used the governor’s office to reward the family and friends of a major political donor and dark-money operative with powerful appointments. The same donor was tied to a group that raised money by selling access to Cooper and his administration, the New York Post reported.
In another instance, Cooper is tied to a green energy company facing a record $1.1 billion fine in what federal regulators called a “scam for the history books” earlier this year.
NC Tribune reported in April of this year the family behind American Efficient, the disgraced company, has donated “at least” $886,526 to North Carolina Democrats over the years, including $72,850 to Cooper. The family includes a sitting North Carolina state senator and a prominent donor whom Cooper appointed to a major state housing board.
Cooper issued numerous executive orders promoting clean energy, including the launch of the NC Clean Energy Plan, a “Clean Energy and Equitable Economy” plan including net-zero carbon emissions, and committing North Carolina to zero-emission transportation — all serving to benefit companies like American Efficient.
Not only did Cooper work to enrich his family and top donors, he also used the power of his office to intimidate Bob Schurmeier, who served as the Director of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
The North State Journal reported in March 2023:
Schurmeier said at times members of the governor’s office held multiple sensitive meetings concerning SBI confidential matters with Department of Public Safety secretaries – including former secretary Erik Hooks and current secretary Eddie Buffaloe. He told the committee he felt the purpose of those meetings was to “intimidate” him.
On two occasions, he said Cooper’s Chief of Staff Kristie Jones and General Counsel Eric Fletcher asked him for his resignation and threatened him with investigations of racial discrimination. Schurmeier strongly denied any accusations of wrongdoing.
Schurmeier pointed to meetings that occurred in a time frame of October-December 2022 in which, while recovering from surgery, he was asked to resign or face investigation. By December, according to Schurmeier, he was then asked if he wanted a second term – which he says left him flabbergasted. Upon telling them he did not, he was asked to put that in writing.
Johnson asks Schurmeier how he interpreted the meetings.
“It was clear intimidation,” he responded.
Schurmeier also said he was unable to hire his preferred candidates for top positions within the agency, which resulted in more control going toward the governor’s office. In one example, he said he was informed he could not select his preferred candidates for a deputy director position and general counsel, instead being forced to hire a former lieutenant of Cooper’s who worked under him when he was attorney general.
Cooper’s bid for Senate is seeing a shortening gap between himself and Republican Michael Whatley. In September, GOP-aligned groups outspent Democrats for the first time in the cycle.
Follow Matt Mercer on X: @mattmercer.
