WASHINGTON —A federal grand jury indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and his wife on Tuesday on charges that they had used campaign funds to pay for personal expenses and filed false campaign records, according to the Justice Department.
Between 2009 and 2016, Hunter and his wife, Margaret, allegedly used more than $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for expenses they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford, including family vacations, school tuition, dental work and theater tickets, the Justice Department said in a statement.The Hunters then allegedly mischaracterized the purchases as campaign-related in filings with the Federal Election Commission, the statement said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., removed Hunter from his committee assignments Tuesday night.“The charges against Rep. Hunter are deeply serious,” Ryan said in a statement.
Hunter pushed back against the charges, acknowledging that while funds from his campaign had been improperly used, he had not been responsible for it.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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