(CNN) Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret, routinely — and illegally — used campaign funds to pay personal bills big and small, from luxury vacations to kids’ school lunches and delinquent family dentistry bills, according to a stinging 47-page indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Click on image for larger version
The charges of wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations and conspiracy were the culmination of a Department of Justice investigation that has stretched for more than a year, during which the Republican congressman from California has maintained his innocence.
The detailed indictment portrays the Hunters as living well beyond their means and said they “knowingly conspired with each other” to convert campaign funds to personal use.
…snip…
The congressman then insisted that his wife be named as his paid campaign manager — over the objections of his treasurer — because, according to the document, he said the family needed “the extra money that would come from her salary.”
Prosecutors said Hunter also allowed the alleged theft to take place by “ignoring his campaign staff’s multiple warnings about Margaret Hunter’s improper use of campaign funds.”
The Hunters overdrew their personal bank accounts more 1,100 times in a seven-year period, according to the indictment from the US Attorney’s Office in San Diego, resulting in $37,761 in “overdraft” and “insufficient funds” bank fees.
“By virtue of these delinquencies — as well as notifications of outstanding debts and overdue payments from their children’s school, their family dentist, and other creditors — the Hunters knew that many of their desired purchases could only be made by using campaign funds,” the indictment says.
The Justice Department said the Hunters are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning in federal court in San Diego.
A spokesperson for Duncan Hunter said the congressman believes the indictment against him and his wife is “purely politically motivated.”
…snip…
Republican Party leaders had long worried that with a potential indictment looming, Hunter’s traditionally safe district, which makes up much of eastern San Diego County, could be at risk of Democratic takeover in November’s midterm election.
…snip…
Hunter was a founding member of the “Trump Caucus” in the House during the 2016 campaign, and alongside Rep. Chris Collins, was the first of two sitting congressmen to endorse Trump for President back in February 2016. Collins was indicted earlier this month on insider trading charges.
In a statement on Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan called the charges against Duncan “deeply serious” and said he will be removed from his committee assignments “pending the resolution of this matter.”
…snip…
Hunter’s campaign credit card allowed the family to take lavish vacations that they could not otherwise afford, according to the indictment filed Tuesday in federal court in San Diego.
Investigators found that Margaret Hunter concealed the name or location of their destination by purchasing tickets for personal vacations by using websites like Expedia. Among the trips using campaign funds: a 2015 family vacation in Italy over Thanksgiving totaling more than $14,000; an April vacation in Hawaii costing $6,500; and a $3,700 trip to Las Vegas and Boise in July 2015.
In addition to family trips to fast food and fine dining establishments, as well as venues like the Del Mar Racetrack, the Hunters allegedly also spent thousands of dollars of campaign funds on routine purchases for personal items at Costco ($11,300), Walmart (more than $5,700), Barnes & Noble, Target and Michael’s craft store.
…snip…
California’s 50th District is a staunchly Republican district with many current and former military families. The congressman’s father, Duncan L. Hunter, represented parts of the district (which changed after redistricting) and has rallied donors and supporters to his son’s side.
Hunter’s Democratic challenger, Ammar Campa-Najjar, a former Department of Labor aide in the Obama administration, has repeatedly outraised him.
Many Hunter allies believe he will stay in his House seat while fighting the charges.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
Show me the teeth, show me the teeth…..if I am expected to buy these clownish thieves new choppers at least have the decency to flash them a bit….or is that a bite?
I saw a comment that resonated loudly with me and should be repeated through megaphones everywhere. I will have to paraphrase. Buying underwear at a golf store and saying that it was an expense for golfballs for a veterans’ event, so it can be written off as a campaign expense, is a helluva lot more disrespectful than taking a knee during the national anthem.
and the swamp reeks of corruption.
I’m just afraid that draining the swamp might soon be impossible, because the drain has been clogged so badly.
Plus there is the problem of all of those unhappy alligators in the dried out pit…..maybe the Trump kids could go down in the pit and train them to be waiters and drivers and such.
Claiming you are buying golf balls or whatever to help out the lepers living on a tiny island off the coast of Sicily is right up there with stopping in to see your elderly mom in time to eat her meals on wheels dinner before she can get to it.
Singe, don’t give the grifters any ideas Meals on Wheels trucks will have to have armed guards now.
❤️🤪🤣😂
Good to see you, my blog sistah. ❤️
Thanks. Just got back from the funeral, and sorting through his stuff. I am exhausted, and depressed. My brother was a serious right wing jerk (I knew that) but he even believed in Pizzagate. So deeply disturbing. 😮
Sending you a big hug. Don’t attempt to do everything at once, and try to concentrate on the good memories.
Yeah. 😢
Waiting for Infidel to check in, There’s lots of stuff for him to find in this poster. 😀
So what else is new? It seems that so many of the repub thugs are all crooks They say it takes one to know one. I reckon that is why all the rethugs sit back and let Twitler have his way and his say.
And what beats it all, is that these grifters keep defending their actions rather than admit the truth. I continue to be astounded.
I wondering if it’s more efficient to build a new prison and call it Twitler Tower for all the Rethugs or if we should just put prison bars around the White House and the Rethug cloakrooms in the Capitol.
Excellent ideas. I like Twitler Tower. “Bigly.”
What a kitchen! With all the cash and unpaid bills lying around near the oven, that place is a fire hazard. I don’t think I’ll be sampling his cooking if that “Bull Shit” ingredient is used much.
The Hunters overdrew their personal bank accounts more 1,100 times in a seven-year period
How on Earth did they manage that? I’ve overdrawn my account zero times in the 40 years or so that I’ve had bank accounts. This guy should not be in a position to vote on how the government uses money.
resulting in $37,761 in “overdraft” and “insufficient funds” bank fees.
Well, they did their part to support the profit margins of the US bank industry, I’ll give them that.
I’m wondering how the lovely Hunter couple managed to find banks that would allow them to have bank accounts. How did they have any credit card or utility accounts that they didn’t have to pay by cash or money order or certified check? I’m thinking there is going to be a lot more found out about this–perhaps favors for the Hunters from some companies in exchange for votes in favor of them? I mean, how does someone carry on like this and still have a home and a car? How much can you steal from your campaign account before someone notices? Why did the treasurer of his campaign argue with him instead of immediately reporting him to the FEC or the FBI or the Justice Department? I wonder if he’s the one who eventually turned him in or if the feds were just watching it all and figured it out for themselves. The plot will no doubt thicken (even more than whatever sauce Duncan has sitting on the stove).
Come on, Eagle Eye Infidel with your awesome monitor! There are a lot more little hidden jokes I was counting on you to find.
Oh, I noticed the Republican elephant pot holders (or whatever those are called), the donation jar, the dollar cookies in the oven, the “I love Trump” sticker (another fire hazard), the wording changes, etc., but those didn’t strike me as especially “hidden”. Not sure why you changed the whatever-it-is in the original image in the left side of the oven to a turkey, though. Hunter does hang out with a lot of people who are turkeys, I suppose.
You are correct in all of those, except one. It’s not a turkey. It’s a goose, and it’s cooked. If you look in the warming drawer of the oven, you’ll see that the cake is baked, and it has a file in it! On top of the stove, Duncan is basting the elephant head. There are a couple of little things–airline tickets on the floor, money stuffed in his pocket and GOP cookies next to the dollar ones. I wanted all the dials to be turned to 11, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t make them so that they could be read and still look like they were organic to the picture. By the way, the Bull Shit Seasoning is real. It comes in different flavors.