S.C. Governor suspends prosecutor after indictments

South Carolina’s governor has suspended the chief prosecutor in Columbia after he was indicted on 26 charges he misspent public funds.
Gov. Henry McMaster’s order Wednesday puts state Deputy Attorney General Heather Weiss in charge of the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office until after new solicitor is elected in November.
A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted Solicitor Dan Johnson and his communications director Nicole Holland on 26 charges including wire fraud, mail fraud and theft of government funds.
Johnson recently lost a primary bid for his third four-year term. He has declined to answer specific questions about his travels but has said he didn’t intend for public money to be used for personal expenses.
Johnson and Holland and their lawyers have not spoken about the indictments.