Lawmaker Linked to Bribery Allegations Says She's Not Involved
3/25/2025 | 1m 55sVideo has Closed Captions
California Senator Rubio denies involvement after reports link her to a federal corruption probe.
Southern California State Senator Susan Rubio is denying any wrongdoing as a federal corruption probe identifies an unnamed “person 20” accused of seeking bribes. While Rubio hasn’t been formally named, lawmakers and reporters say no other official matches the description.
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SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal
Lawmaker Linked to Bribery Allegations Says She's Not Involved
3/25/2025 | 1m 55sVideo has Closed Captions
Southern California State Senator Susan Rubio is denying any wrongdoing as a federal corruption probe identifies an unnamed “person 20” accused of seeking bribes. While Rubio hasn’t been formally named, lawmakers and reporters say no other official matches the description.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSouthern California Senator Susan Rubio is facing scrutiny in a federal public corruption investigation regarding allegations of soliciting bribes and illegal campaign contributions.
Rubio emphatically denied accepting bribes in an interview with CalMatters reporting partner CBS News that aired in January.
“Are you saying you're not person 20?” “I'm not saying that.
I'm just saying that you read the report and whatever is happening there is happening there, but I think that people would have to reach out to me in order for me to be part of any investigation.” -Federal officials have not identified Rubio by name in the corruption probe, which has ensnared a handful of other officials in San Bernardino County, Compton, Commerce and Baldwin Park.
However, no one else matches the description of person 20, who was accused in recently released federal court documents of asking for bribes from a cannabis company and accepting illegal campaign contributions.
The allegations stem from when Rubio was a member of the Baldwin Park City Council.
CalMatters filed requests with the state legislature seeking copies of federal law enforcement subpoenas and search warrants dating to 2020.
Identical letters from the Senate and Assembly cited four reasons for denying the records requests, including that the public interest wasn't served by releasing the records.
A spokesperson for Senator Rubio said, "There is no case against Senator Rubio and there is no violation being investigated by the Senate or Assembly."
“No one has told you that you're person 20?” -I'm not under any current communication or no one's talking to me and no one's brought me in, so you would have to ask them.” -Legislative Republicans called for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation, but the committee declined saying longstanding Senate rules prohibit investigation of allegations that are more than three years old.
For CalMatters, I'm Ryan Sabalow.
SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal