FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said he put politics aside when he asked the FBI to investigate former governor, and fellow Republican, Matt Bevin.
In his first public statements on the decision, Cameron remained guarded about why he requested federal investigators to look into Bevin’s flurry of last-minute pardons, which included convicted rapists and killers.
Sen. Morgan McGarvey and Rep. Chris Harris, both Democrats, have called on Cameron to launch an independent investigation.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had expressed particular concern about Bevin's pardoning of Patrick Baker, whose family had donated to Bevin’s campaign. Baker had served two years of a 19-year sentence for killing a man during a home invasion in Knox County in 2014.
"We've already put our statement out there as it relates to this particular matter," Cameron said Friday. "I don't think it's appropriate to comment any further on it. I think we put forth what our response was in that letter."
Cameron was referring to a letter released Thursday in which he said "...the pardon power should be used sparingly, and only after great deliberation with due concern for public safety."
Cameron declined to go beyond that statement.
"I think you do have to use great discretion with the pardon power, but the statement speaks for itself," he said.
Cameron and Bevin are both Republicans who had campaigned together just weeks earlier.
"When I was on the campaign trail, I talked about depoliticizing this office," Cameron said. "So that's first and foremost my priority and responsibility. That's how I view this office, and we're going to proceed in that manner."
Attorney General Daniel Cameron tells WDRB's Lawrence Smith he intends to "enforce the law" and "look at every matter objectively."
Cameron made it clear that he will put the law above politics.
"When you make the decision to put an attorney general in this role — a person in this role — you hope they are going to enforce the law and going to look at every matter objectively on a whole host of topics," he said. "That's what we intend to do."
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