LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A prosecutor said Friday he will not file criminal charges over the $19,000 purchase of a lectern by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office that drew national attention.
An audit found that the purchase may have violated state procurement laws, state property and government documents. But Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones said that after a “thorough review of the report and supporting documents,” his office determined that “criminal charges are not warranted.”
There is “insufficient evidence of criminal conduct,” Jones said in a letter to accountant Roger Norman on Friday.
Norman said in an email that he had no comment.
Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Jones’ review confirmed what the governor’s office had been saying all along.
“We followed the law, reimbursed the state with private money, and this was nothing more than a ridiculous controversy concocted by the far left,” Henning said in an emailed statement.
The lectern for Sanders, who served as press secretary for former President Donald Trump and is widely seen as a potential candidate to become his running mate, has drawn attention ranging from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to The New York Times.
The blue and wood-paneled lectern was purchased last June with a state credit card for $19,029.25 from an events company in Virginia. The Republican Party of Arkansas refunded the state for the purchase on September 14, and Sanders’ office has called the use of the state credit card an accounting error. Sanders’ office said it received the lectern in August.
Similar lectern models are listed online for $7,500 or less.
Arkansas lawmakers last year approved the request to evaluate the purchase of the lectern. The subsequent audit found that Sanders’ office may have illegally tampered with public records when the words “reimbursable” appeared added to the original invoice for the lectern after the state GOP paid for it in September.
Jones said Friday that the executive assistant who made the note did not “knowingly ‘make a false entry in or falsely alter any public document,’ or delete, obliterate, remove, destroy or conceal any public document .”
“Further, there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the notation was added for the ‘purpose of impairing the veracity, readability, or availability of a public document,’” Jones said.
Sanders’ office and accountants disputed whether the governor and other constitutional officials are subject to the purchasing and ownership rules she was accused of violating. The audit found that the governor’s office did not follow the steps set out in state law for agencies to dispose of state property.
Jones said Arkansas law is not clear on whether provisions of the General Accounting and Budgetary Procedures Law apply to constitutional officers. He noted the differing interpretations of the law by accountants and the Arkansas governor’s office.
“Given the multiple interpretations of the GABPL and the ambiguity as to whether it applies to the AGO, there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the law was knowingly violated,” the letter said.