The GOP is a sewer of criminality, up and down the line
by digby
I always knew Duncan Hunter was an asshole. So was his father. It was obvious just listening to him talk. His father, from whom he inherited his congressional seat was too. So it comes as no surprise that he’s also a criminal. This San Diego super-patriot warhawk even ripped off veterans. Of course.
The 47-page indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges, their own personal family accounts were either very low or overdrawn. The extremely detailed allegations paint the picture of a member of Congress raising money from donors and boldly using it for himself and his family to live outside their means. At one point, prosecutors allege Hunter told his campaign treasurer that the rules preventing exactly such a scenario were “silly.”
“The Hunters knew that many of their desired purchases could be paid by using campaign funds,” the indictment reads. Hunter did not respond to a request by The Washington Post for comment.
What’s perhaps most galling in the indictment is how the Hunters are alleged to have covered up their purchases: often, by claiming they were for charities, such as veterans’ organizations. Hunter is a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here are 10 of the most stunning allegations from the indictment that give politicians a bad name:
1. When Hunter and his wife chatted with each other about how they were able to get cash from the campaign to spend on daily life, they allegedly said “it was great.”
2. Margaret Hunter allegedly spent $200 on tennis shoes at Dick’s Sporting Goods, which she then claimed as being for an annual dove hunting event for wounded warriors.
3. When Hunter told his wife he needed to “buy my Hawaii shorts,” but he was out of money, she allegedly told him to buy them from a golf pro shop so he could claim they were actually golf balls for wounded warriors.
4. When the water utility company threatened to turn off their water, Margaret Hunter allegedly spent $300 in campaign funds to pay the bill.
5. Margaret Hunter allegedly spent $152 on makeup at Nordstrom and told the campaign it was “gift basket items for the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Diego.”
6. Another $394 from Macy’s was listed as “gift baskets for local organizations.”
7. In an attempt to justify spending campaign funds on a family trip to Italy, Hunter asked a naval base there for a tour. When officials said they couldn’t do it then, Hunter said, “Tell the Navy to go f— themselves.”
8. They allegedly described the payment of their family dental bills as a charitable contribution to “Smiles for Life.”
9. Margaret Hunter allegedly bought plane tickets for her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to go to Warsaw. She told the campaign it was for events in New Orleans and Kentucky.
10. Hunter allegedly used campaign funds to go a personal ski trip to Lake Tahoe when his family bank account had a negative balance and his personal bank account had $35. (He withdrew $20 from his personal bank account while there, the indictment alleges.)
Hunter was the second elected official to endorse Trump. The first? Chris Collins who recently had to stop out of his re-election campaign after being indicted for insider trading.
Only the best people, only the best.
Update: Lol. Duncan Hunter Sr is blaming Rod Rosentein and the “witch hunt” for this indictment.
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