Tennessee Trump Campaign Chief Admits To 1998 Solicitation Bust

NASHVILLE, TN -- A Metro Nashville councilman and the Tennessee state director for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential bid was cited for soliciting prostitution in Chattanooga in 1998, he admitted Tuesday.

District 4 councilman Robert Swope, who represents the South Nashville and Brentwood area, disclosed the citation Tuesday night during the Metro Council meeting. As the meeting neared its conclusion, a tearful Swope rose and said he chose to reveal the 20-year-old incident because he learned his opponent for Republican State Executive Committeeman had dug up the information.

"So that you don't hear this from anyone other than me first, please know this: In 1998, 20 years ago, as a young single man traveling on the road through Hamilton County, Chattanooga, I was given a citation for solicitation," he said.

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"In the decades since this long-forgotten episode, I've grown... met an incredible woman, gotten married, and tried to serve my community and my country as honorably and as well as I could," Swope said. "This alone doesn't absolve me from my past transgressions, but my youthful indiscretions were just that -- youthful indiscretions."

Swope, now in his third year on the council, worked for the Trump campaign for 15 months, through the primaries and general election, ending with the title of Tennessee state director. Though he never mentioned his opponent by name, he is facing Ron McDow for the District 20 Republican State Executive Committeeman spot. The election is August 2.

He said his opponent has "seen fit to besmirch my character and investigate my background, hiring investigators to literally go back decades into my personal private life."

Swope said he was not arrested or booked on the citation but "through a series of court misunderstandings," there may be a warrant outstanding for his arrest in Hamilton County.

Court records from Chattanooga show that Swope was charged with patronizing prostitution, a misdemeanor, Sept. 11, 1998. The records also show Swope had a $1,000 bond. There is no disposition listed for the case, indicating that it is still open, though the case is given a disposition date of Jan. 1, 1800. This is almost certainly an error.

Swope told The Tennessean he had stopped at a gas station in Chattanooga while driving back to Nashville from Atlanta and a woman banged on his window and propositioned him and "out of complete curiosity, I said 'How much?'".

Swope said blue lights then came on behind his truck, he was cited and released. He told the paper when he showed up in court, they had no record of his arrest and sent him on his way. Hamilton County court records have no court date listed for Swope or any indication that a subsequent failure-to-appear warrant was issued.

"But until I find out if we're absolutely positive, I'm going to get out in front of this. I respect my fellow council members far too much," Swope told The Tennessean. "I respect my wife, my family, and my constituents of this city far too much to let this come out without hearing it from me first."

Swope, among the small but outspoken conservative minority on the council in deeply Democratic Nashville, was a member of the special committee appointed to investigate now-former Mayor Megan Barry after she admitted to a years-long affair with her former security chief. After Barry's resignation, Swope advocated disbanding the panel, saying it was time to "move forward together and not keep tearing things apart."

Coincidentally, Swope's predecessor in District 4, Brady Banks, was arrested in a Nashville solicitation bust in 2012, while a member of the council. Banks finished his term but did not seek re-election.

Photo via Metro Council