While voters still wonder about the identity of a politician who accepted a $35,000 cash payment in 2022, answers are not forthcoming from the state’s federal delegation.
In 2025, court filings released in the aftermath of an FBI investigation into bribery and corruption at the Hawai‘i Legislature inadvertently revealed details of the investigation that have yet to be explained.
During a 2022 meeting between former Hawai‘i Rep. Ty Cullen — who was secretly recording the interaction for the FBI — and an unidentified man, the man reportedly handed “an influential state legislator” about $35,000 “that were purportedly to be used in an existing campaign,” according to improperly redacted court filings.
Since then, the identity of the legislator or the man who paid them have not been revealed, while hundreds of residents have signed a petition demanding the public release of that information.
While state Attorney General Anne Lopez has said that she will not interfere with an active federal investigation, Aloha State Daily contacted all four members of the state’s federal delegation — Reps. Ed Case and Jill Tokuda and Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono — and asked whether they are able or willing to provide pressure at the federal level to hasten the release of the unknown legislator’s identity.
As of Thursday, none of those lawmakers have made any response.
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