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Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes said Wednesday that he is willing to testify under oath to rebut allegations saying he attended a hush-hush meeting in 2009 at a posh California resort that is linked to the criminal case against former Utah Attorney General John Swallow.

But, Hughes said, any testimony would have to occur after the Utah Legislature ends its general session March 9.

"I could spend days down there [at the trial] or something like that," Hughes said in a short interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. "I worry about that. I've got to be speaker of the House, and I've got this short window of constitutional authority, and that's got to be my priority right now. But I am preparing and will be providing ample evidence to show that I was [in Utah] in the time in question."

Hughes may not have the luxury of waiting.

In 3rd District Court on Wednesday, defense attorney Scott C. Williams said the speaker was among at least nine new witnesses — including former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. — that he may subpoena to testify when Swallow's trial on charges related to public corruption begins Feb. 7.

"The defense witness list is now populated with individuals who can impeach the state's witnesses," said Williams, who like Salt Lake County prosecutors and an FBI investigator, heard the Hughes and Reid allegations for the first time Tuesday.

The bombshell came during testimony from convicted businessman Marc Sessions Jenson, who said Hughes and some Utah Transit Authority developers were with then-Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Swallow in June 2009 at the Pelican Hill resort, where they supposedly discussed the development of a train station in Draper. Reid, he said, met with the group later at a secret meeting away from the resort.

That proposed development led to a probe by the attorney general's office, the Legislature and the FBI into allegations of conflicts of interest and self-dealing; no charges have been filed.

Jenson, who had business ties to the developers, also said hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks were paid to three unnamed UTA board members.

Hughes, a UTA board member and chairman from 2010 to 2014, denied that he received any kickbacks. He went on KSL Radio's "The Doug Wright Show" to defend himself, but so did Shurtleff and Jenson.

Shurtleff, whose charges were dropped last year in a parallel criminal case, insisting that Jenson's allegations "had come from a twisted mind" and were "absolutely false, and irresponsible and just alarming." And he again criticized Salt Lake County prosecutors who allowed Jenson to testify "without corroborating that" testimony. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said he could not comment on Jenson's statements Tuesday.

Hughes told Wright he was "available under oath to state the truth," and that he had been gathering online activities and records to show he was in Utah during the time Shurtleff and Swallow were at Pelican Hill.

Jenson later called in and insisted he had told the truth, while seeming to hint that Shurtleff's legal battles weren't over.

Jenson's testimony came as part of an evidentiary hearing to determine whether a jury can hear out-of-court statements made by Shurtleff, Swallow's onetime co-defendant and former boss, and the late Tim Lawson, a close Shurtleff associate who called himself a "fixer" and Shurtleff's best friend.

Hearsay statements are typically not allowed, or considered reliable, but the rules of evidence allow for exceptions if the remarks lend truth to the assertion prosecutors are making about an alleged crime.

Prosecutors want to use the remarks as proof that Shurtleff, Swallow and Lawson were engaged in an ongoing criminal enterprise or conspiracy. That's important because Swallow is facing a racketeering charge, so the state must prove there was a pattern of unlawful activity if it were to secure a conviction.

Jenson is the first person to testify under oath about the sweeping allegations of a pay-to-play scandal that resulted in the 2014 criminal charges brought against Shurtleff and Swallow.

Swallow has pleaded not guilty to 13 felony and misdemeanors, including counts of pattern of unlawful activity, bribery, accepting prohibited gifts, evidence tampering and obstruction of justice. If he is convicted of the charges, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutors put six witnesses on the stand over two days, including businessmen who had made campaign donations in hopes of cultivating a relationship with Shurtleff or sought his help in resolving other legal issues and an FBI agent who detailed how investigators gathered and checked the case evidence.

Taken together, that evidence shows that Shurtleff, Swallow and Lawson conspired to "get them in office, keep them in office and to get money" which helped them maintain their position and power, prosecutors said.

"Shurtleff was at the apex of the conspiracy, the guy who called all the shots," Deputy District Attorney Fred Burmester said. "Lawson was the muscle, who intimidated and threatened, and Swallow was the moneyman."

Williams, Swallow's attorney, questioned whether the relationships between the three and their interactions with Utah business people were unusual or simply "what happens every day for people seeking public office."

Prosecutors have failed to meet the standard for a hearsay exception, which requires proving that those involved in an alleged conspiracy jointly agreed to break the law, Williams said.

"An underlying conspiracy has not been proven involving these three as a triangle or a cabal," he said.

Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills took the matter under advisement and it was not immediately clear when she might decide the issue.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert also was mentioned in court Wednesday, when Williams introduced a letter the governor wrote in 2009 vouching for the character of Lawson.

In the letter, which was drafted to a Hong Kong investment bank, Herbert calls Lawson a friend and a person of integrity.

Williams asked FBI special agent Jon Isakson how the positive statements about Lawson's character could be true, when investigators and prosecutors had "engaged in a narrative" that Lawson was an untrustworthy "crook" who had extorted money from Jenson.

Isakson said agents had not investigated whether Lawson had a relationship with Herbert, nor interviewed the governor, because there was no indication Herbert had information about the activities of Shurtleff and Swallow.

But Williams said Herbert's name is also on the list of potential new witnesses for the defense.