Few politicians had more for which to give thanks this past holiday week than Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade. He has thus far avoided the kind of media scrutiny and publicly forced transparency that should — must — reveal whether he committed a crime for which many before him have been prosecuted and incarcerated. This is a story that deserves national coverage.

The story is incredible. In the waning days of a vigorous campaign for mayor of Colorado Springs, our state’s second largest city, a cross was burned in front of a campaign sign with a racial slur painted on it for unaffiliated candidate Mobolade — a Black man — in an apparent and aggressive act of racist intimidation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Colorado Springs Police Department investigated.

Last month, Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) indicted three people for conspiring and setting up the display as a hoax. Interestingly, the USAO press release about the indictment reveals that now-Mayor Mobolade is Black, but does not reveal that the ring leader — known as “Phoenixx Ugrilla” — is also Black. And an attempted killer of police in another incident. And a recently convicted murderer — in yet another incident. And a supporter of Mobolade’s.

Ugrilla had messaged Mobolade prior to and after the hoax, according to the indictment. One month before the election, the supporter-hoaxer-killer texted to Mobolade, “I guarantee the finish.” That was one of five text messages sent to Mobolade, including post-election texts, “we got you through it all brother” and “another time though, we will handle business.”

Those facts are also omitted from the USAO press release.

Since the indictment, according to the Daily Wire, an unnamed “FBI official” told the news site that the FBI urged the USAO/DOJ to indict Mobolade, who met with the FBI twice and “strenuously denied” any contact with Ugrilla. The FBI official told the Daily Wired there were “dozens of messages” between Ugrilla and Mobolade. Also inexplicably omitted from the indictment itself are Mobolade’s responses to those texts.

The horrible optics that flow from these revelations are dwarfed by the implication that Mobolade may have lied multiple times to the FBI about having any contact with the murderous political supporter and hoaxer.

Lying to local and state law enforcement officers in Colorado is not a crime in and of itself. However, lying to the FBI (or any federal agency) is a serious crime. A go-to-prison crime. 18 U.S.C. 1001, which proscribes making false statements to agencies like the FBI, applies to anyone who knowingly and willfully “makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements….”

This would seem to perfectly fit Mobolade’s alleged conduct. And yet, the DOJ refused to indict him.

The DOJ declined to prosecute Mobolade for reasons the FBI official told the Daily Wire were political and race based. Another unforced error for the rule of law and the DOJ is also — and again — accused of making prosecution decisions based upon something other than public safety and justice. The good men and women who make up the prosecution corps of the DOJ deserve better than another blow to their credibility.

We deserve the truth, from Mobolade and the DOJ. Just last week, the mayor’s office released a press statement in which he denied involvement in the hoax and claimed he “fully cooperated” with the FBI investigation.

But to this date, the mayor has never directly addressed whether he lied to the FBI.

There are only two options for what happened here. First, a member of the FBI leaked information and lied to smear the reputation of Mayor Mobolade. U.S. taxpayers and citizens of Colorado Springs deserve to know if that happened to their mayor, and if so, what the consequences of such misconduct are. There should be a firing and prosecution (if feasible).

Second, it is all true and Mayor Mobolade did lie to the FBI multiple times. If so, there must be a prosecution by the U.S. attorney and a recall election — if the mayor does not step down out of shame.

We prosecutors look to see if the conduct of the witnesses and the guilty match up to our expectations of what an innocent person would do. Here, they do not.

We would expect to hear Mobolade quickly, unequivocally and vociferously declare these accusations to be untrue and seek the investigation and prosecution of what is a false attempt to destroy him.

But Mobolade said none of that.

Prior to his press statement last week but after the DOJ’s indictment of his supporters, Mobolade had told The Daily Wire through a spokesperson that he only had contact with Ugrilla as a “local media personality.” He sought to distance himself from Ugrilla (whose given name is Derrick Bernard Jr.).

Having Griswolded his initial response, too much time has passed now for him to get out in front of this, so his future now rests upon a DOJ complicit in its silence, and a media complicit in its willing disinterest.

Give thanks that there is reason yet to hope for a full and fair resolution of this matter. The statute of limitations — the time during which a prosecution can be initiated for a crime — is five years. The apparent decision not to prosecute by the current, acting U.S. attorney does not foreclose a Pam Bondi-headed DOJ from taking action here.

Mobolade does not have to wait. He can and should tell us the truth. All of it.

George Brauchler is district attorney-elect for the 23rd Judicial District and former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. He has served as an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. Follow him on Twitter (X): @GeorgeBrauchler