Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 26 June 2019

Feds: Rep. Duncan Hunter paid for affairs with campaign cash

Continued from Front Hunter later began staying
at her home “nearly every
Margaret Hunter, who night,” prosecutors said.
served as the congress- He used campaign funds
man’s campaign chair- for cocktails and Uber rides.
woman, pleaded guilty — On Sept. 14, 2016, Hunter
this month to one count of and another lobbyist en-
corruption and agreed to gaged in “intimate per-
testify against her husband. sonal activities unrelated to
In the new motion, pros- Hunter’s campaign,” pros-
ecutors reconstructed Rep. ecutors said.
Hunter’s alleged clandes- He used campaign funds
tine lifestyle with precision, to pay for an Uber to return
providing times when he to his office the next morn-
arrived and departed after ing.
liaisons and listing a wide Prosecutors said evidence
range of expenses he rep- about the congressman’s
resented as campaign-re- affairs is necessary to “dem-
lated activity, such as pay- onstrate Hunter’s ... intent
ing for dates with a woman to break the law and to
who had become his lover establish his motive to em-
shortly after she started bezzle from his campaign.”
working in his office. Alluding to the motion to
He used his campaign dismiss the charges, pros-
treasury for even seemingly ecutors wrote that the “se-
incidental purchases — a quence of romantic liai-
$7 beer at a hotel bar while sons is so far removed from
on a ski trip with one of the In this Aug. 23, 2018 file photo, Margaret Hunter, the wife of U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.,arrives any legitimate campaign
women, and an Uber ride for an arraignment hearing in San Diego. or congressional activity
after a liaison with another Associated Press as to rebut any argument
lobbyist in October 2015. filing. Vega wrote that the Con- The filing provided a look that Hunter believed these
Hunter has said he is the It came the same day stitution does not place into a string of his alleged were proper uses of cam-
target of politically moti- Hunter’s attorney filed a members of Congress relationships and an ac- paign funds.”
vated prosecutors. His law- motion to dismiss the in- above the law but does counting of campaign The government’s filing
yer, Gregory Vega, didn’t dictment, arguing that the “protect them from pros- funds that were spent. also referred to “additional
immediately respond to search and seizure of his ecution for their legislative Among them: potentially sensitive con-
a message seeking com- congressional records vio- activities and from hav- — Sometime after April duct” by the congressman
ment about the new court lated the Constitution. ing to disclose legislative 2009, shortly after com- with personal friends that
records, absent their con- ing to Congress, Hunter could taint the jury pool if
sent.” became romantically in- revealed.
In an interview with Fox volved with a lobbyist and Both sides are discussing an
News last year, the six-term began staying at her home agreement in which evi-
congressman said his cam- while occasionally spend- dence of the get-togeth-
paign made mistakes, that ing campaign funds for ers, financed by campaign
he gave his wife power food and beverages, pros- dollars, would not be intro-
of attorney when he de- ecutors said. duced at trial.
ployed as a Marine to Iraq — In January 2010, Hunter Hunter was re-elected by
in 2003 and that she han- flew to Reno, Nevada, os- Southern California’s most
dled his finances during his tensibly to attend a con- Republican congressional
last five terms in office. vention for a nonprofit district last year despite the
The government’s filing group. indictment. His trial is set for
suggested that Hunter After a brief stop at the Sept. 10.
tapped into campaign convention, Hunter and His lawyer also filed a mo-
funds because he had no a lobbyist headed for a tion to move the court
other source of money to ski resort near Lake Ta- case out of San Diego
bankroll his romantic rela- hoe, where they spent the County, predicting that
tionships. weekend skiing and order- Hunter would not receive a
During a weekend ski trip ing room service, accord- fair trial because of “enor-
with a lobbyist, his personal ing to the filing. mous negative local media
bank account had a nega- Prosecutors said Hunter coverage.”
tive balance and he had used campaign funds to He also said Hunter’s ties
been hit with $33 fees six rent a car, pay the hotel to President Donald Trump
times for overdrawing the tab and fly back to Wash- could taint the trial with
account, prosecutors said. ington. politics, because Trump
“Given the pronounced — In August 2012, while at- lost the county in the 2016
financial difficulties the tending the Republican election by 18 points.
Hunters were facing, his use National Convention in He said Hunter could get an
of campaign funds to pur- Tampa, Florida, Hunter be- impartial jury in the court’s
sue these relationships was gan a romantic relationship Eastern District of Califor-
necessary for Hunter to sat- with a woman who worked nia, which includes several
isfy his desire for intimacy,” for a member of the House largely rural counties car-
prosecutors wrote. leadership. ried by Trump in 2016.q