Oklahoma GOP lawmaker resigns from leadership post after being indicted

Oklahoma GOP Rep. Terry O’Donnell announced his resignation as House speaker pro tem, but will remain in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and fight against corruption charges leveled at him by an Oklahoma County grand jury, Tulsa World reports.

“My wife and I are INNOCENT and WE WILL FIGHT BACK, and vigorously defend our integrity,” O’Donnell said in a written statement. He and wife were processed at a local jail as a procedure, but were not held.

"O’Donnell, who until Thursday was the House’s speaker pro tem, and his wife, Teresa O’Donnell, were indicted Dec. 17 on eight counts stemming from their actions concerning a Catoosa tag agency that was in effect transferred to Teresa O’Donnell following her mother’s death in 2019," Tulsa World reports. "As a member of House leadership, Terry O’Donnell sponsored and voted for bills in 2018 and 2019 that lifted bans on legislators and their families having financial interests in tag agencies. The legislation also made it easier for tag agents to designate successors."

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According to Terry O'Donnell, the charges are the result of “political operatives in Oklahoma City” with a “personal vendetta” against him, although he wasn't specific as to who he was talking about.

“This all started when I sought to hold some very influential people accountable for gross abuses of power,” O’Donnell said in Thursday’s statement.