A state prosecutor asked Republican Sen. Jon Husted on Wednesday if he was happy to have been called as a defense witness in the state bribery trial of two former FirstEnergy executives.

“Thrilled,” Husted replied in a perfect deadpan.

The exchange helps encapsulate the uncomfortable hour Husted spent on the virtual witness stand on Wednesday. Husted delivered his testimony, roughly split evenly between fielding questions from the prosecution and the defense, while conferencing in virtually from Washington D.C., where he was otherwise spending the day representing Ohio in Congress.

Defense lawyers for ex-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and ex-senior vice president of external affairs Mike Dowling had called Husted to the stand to describe his interactions with the company in late 2018 and early 2019, when Gov. Mike DeWine was choosing a new chair for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. DeWine had just been elected as governor, and Husted as his lieutenant governor.

DeWine ultimately picked Sam Randazzo for the job, which involves setting profits and customer costs for FirstEnergy and other state utilities. The crux of the bribery case is the allegation that FirstEnergy paid Randazzo $4.3 million in January 2019, shortly before DeWine hired him, so Randazzo would use his official role to help the company.

Husted has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case, and Wednesday’s testimony brought out no new revelations against him.

But simply being pulled into a bribery trial was obviously not something Husted relished having to do as he prepares to run in the upcoming November election against Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Democrats quickly made hay of Husted’s appearance Wednesday, issuing a press release a couple hours after his testimony wrapped. Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Tony Wen said Husted downplayed his “extensive relationship” with Jones and Dowling.

Husted wasn’t asked about it on Wednesday, but jurors have been told how FirstEnergy executives had described Husted as a “good friend” who fought for Randazzo’s confirmation as PUCO chair. They’ve seen evidence of him speaking regularly by phone with Dowling, one of the defendants.

And while it’s irrelevant to the trial at hand, FirstEnergy in 2017 sent $1 million to a nonprofit backing Husted’s soon-to-be aborted gubernatorial campaign before spending millions more supporting the DeWine-Husted ticket in 2018.

“Jon Husted’s testimony today confirmed what Ohioans already knew: he was at the center of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history and it’s costing families hundreds of dollars more a year,” Wen said, referencing the broader House Bill 6 scandal that’s at the center of Randazzo’s case and a separate set of state and federal charges against ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and others.

What the defense asked Husted about

On Wednesday, defense lawyer Steve Grimes questioned Husted about evidence that showed FirstEnergy initially backed Jason Rafeld for the open PUCO chair slot, later coming around to the administration’s preference, Randazzo.

Husted was asked about a December 2018 meeting between DeWine, Husted, Jones, Dowling and another FirstEnergy consultant at a private social club near the Statehouse in downtown Columbus.

As he has before, Husted said he didn’t remember the specifics of the meeting. But he remembered the gist of what FirstEnergy wanted around that time: for Rafeld to be picked to lead the PUCO. He said he didn’t know that Jones and Dowling left that meeting and went straight to Randazzo’s house, where they discussed the $4.3 million that FirstEnergy would soon send his way.

Generally, Husted described himself as a fact finder for DeWine, tasked with learning about different candidates for the PUCO chair and other jobs and passing along what he’d found. He said the process of transitioning from DeWine as a political campaign to a state government was a chaotic one.

“We had a lot of [positions] we had to fill. We were looking for who was interested, who was qualified,” Husted said.

The defense also asked Husted about a behind-the-scenes campaign waged by a rival utility, American Electric Power, to try to convince DeWine not to hire Randazzo.

Husted said DeWine ultimately weighed Randazzo’s qualifications as an expert utility lawyer and decided he was most qualified for the job.

The prosecution’s questions

In cross-examination, state Assistant Attorney General Matt Meyer made it seem like Husted had been duped.

In doing so, Meyer reminded the public about the longstanding coziness between FirstEnergy and DeWine’s political team around the time of the passage of House Bill 6 in 2019.

Meyer asked Husted a series of questions about Mike Dawson, a Republican political consultant whose wife, Laurel Dawson, was DeWine’s first chief of staff for his governor’s administration.

Husted replied that Mr. Dawson was a friend, but that he didn’t know that he worked at the time as a paid consultant for FirstEnergy.

He also said he didn’t know that Randazzo and Mike Dawson had shared office space, or that Randazzo had loaned money to the Dawsons. (A forensic accountant previously testified that she identified a roughly $13,000 payment that went from Randazzo’s company to Mike Dawson.)

Meyer described the Dawson connection as a “secret financial relationship” between Randazzo and the Dawsons that Randazzo didn’t disclose to Team DeWine or on state ethics forms.

Meyer also said Mike Dawson was passing along information from inside the DeWine administration to FirstEnergy. Husted said he hadn’t been aware of this.

Meyer asked if Husted condoned that Dawson had been doing so.

“I’m not sure I understand your question,” Husted replied.

“If you had known this was going on, that that’s not something you would be okay with, would it?” Meyer asked.

“No, that’s, that wouldn’t be something that I would have condoned,” Husted said.

Meyer briefly asked Husted about his tenure as Ohio Secretary of State in the 2010s. Meyer quizzed Husted about whether he would have privately talked with parties in the semi-judicial cases he oversaw involving protests of political candidates. This is what prosecutors have described Jones doing repeatedly with Randazzo as Randazzo weighed regulatory decisions worth millions of dollars to FirstEnergy.

“Yeah,” Husted said. “You can’t have somebody reach out privately to talk to you about a hearing process.”

How Planet Fitness made a cameo

Meyer’s line of questioning included pressing Husted about the general aesthetics and prestige of the Athletic Club of Columbus, the private social club where Husted and DeWine met with Dowling and Jones in December 2018.

Husted had said during his testimony for the defense that the meeting was held there because that’s where Husted worked out. Husted is a former college football player and fitness enthusiast.

Meyer asked Husted to describe the Athletic Club. In a series of halting responses, Husted said that it included a gym facility and a restaurant.

“Is it a nice restaurant?” Meyer asked, referring to a members-only club that posts its dress code online.

Husted responded that it was “kind of a normal restaurant.”

Meyer asked if the Athletic Club has wood paneling inside. (It does.)

“I don’t recall the decor,” Husted said.

Meyer asked Husted if the Athletic Club is “pretty nice.”

Husted responded “yeah,” and described its proximity to the Statehouse.

“It’s not like Planet Fitness or something like that?” Meyer said, describing the ubiquitous international chain of budget gyms.

“I’ve never been in a Planet Fitness,” Husted responded.