Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

A First Look at Fresno State’s Quarterback Battle

2 days ago

Israeli Columnist Alleges Ethnic Cleansing Plan in Gaza

2 days ago

Tesla to Roll out Bay Area Robotaxis With Safety Drivers, Report Says

2 days ago

Thailand and Cambodia Exchange Heavy Artillery Fire as Border Battle Expands

2 days ago

California Cannot Require Background Checks to Buy Ammunition, US Appeals Court Rules

3 days ago

TikTok Will Go Dark in US Without Chinese Approval of Sale Deal, Lutnick Says

3 days ago

Fresno County Authorities Still Searching for Missing Mother and Infant

3 days ago
Feds: Rep. Duncan Hunter Paid for Affairs With Campaign Cash
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
June 26, 2019

Share

LOS ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California illegally used campaign money to finance romantic flings with lobbyists and congressional aides, spending thousands of dollars on meals, cocktails and vacations, federal prosecutors say.

A government court filing late Monday detailed allegations about the married Republican congressman’s affairs with five women following an indictment last year charging Hunter and his wife with misspending more than $200,000 in campaign funds on trips and other personal expenses.
A government court filing late Monday detailed allegations about the married Republican congressman’s affairs with five women following an indictment last year charging Hunter and his wife with misspending more than $200,000 in campaign funds on trips and other personal expenses.
Margaret Hunter, who served as the six-term congressman’s campaign chairwoman, pleaded guilty this month to one count of corruption and agreed to testify against her husband.
In the new motion, prosecutors reconstructed Rep. Hunter’s alleged clandestine lifestyle, providing times when he arrived for and left liaisons and listing a range of expenses he represented as campaign-related activity, such as paying for dates with a woman who had become his lover shortly after she started working in his office.
He used his campaign treasury for even seemingly incidental purchases — a $7 beer at a hotel bar while on a ski trip with one of the women, and an Uber ride after a liaison with another lobbyist in October 2015.
Hunter has said he is the target of politically motivated prosecutors. His lawyer, Gregory Vega, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the filing.

Hunter Tapped Campaign Funds Because He Had No Other Money

It came the same day Vega filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the search and seizure of Hunter’s congressional records was unconstitutional.
Vega wrote that the Constitution does not put members of Congress above the law but does “protect them from prosecution for their legislative activities and from having to disclose legislative records, absent their consent.”
Prosecutors said the “sequence of romantic liaisons is so far removed from any legitimate campaign or congressional activity as to rebut any argument that Hunter believed these were proper uses of campaign funds.”
“It’s a very solid case that got much stronger” once his wife pleaded guilty and agreed to testify, said former federal prosecutor Jason A. Forge, who prosecuted California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who served more than seven years in prison in a bribery scandal.
In an interview with Fox News last year, Hunter said his campaign made mistakes, that he gave his wife power of attorney when he deployed as a Marine to Iraq in 2003 and that she handled his finances during his last five terms in office.
The government’s filing suggested that Hunter tapped into campaign funds because he had no other money to finance his romantic relationships. During a weekend ski trip with a lobbyist, his personal bank account had a negative balance and he had been hit with $33 fees six times for overdrawing the account, prosecutors said.

A Closer Look at Hunter’s Alleged Relationships

The filing provided a look into a string of his alleged relationships and an accounting of campaign funds that were spent:
— Sometime after April 2009, Hunter became romantically involved with a lobbyist and began staying at her home while occasionally spending campaign funds on food and beverages, prosecutors said.
— In January 2010, Hunter flew to Reno, Nevada, ostensibly to attend a convention for a nonprofit group. After a brief stop at the convention, Hunter and a lobbyist headed for a ski resort near Lake Tahoe, where they spent the weekend skiing and ordering room service, according to the filing. Prosecutors said Hunter used campaign funds to rent a car, pay the hotel tab and fly back to Washington.
— In August 2012, while attending the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, Hunter began a romantic relationship with a woman who worked for a member of the House leadership. Hunter later began staying at her home “nearly every night,” prosecutors said. He used campaign funds for cocktails and Uber rides.
— On Sept. 14, 2016, Hunter and another lobbyist engaged in “intimate personal activities unrelated to Hunter’s campaign,” prosecutors said. He used campaign funds to pay for an Uber to return to his office the next morning.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

California School Board Resigns After Audit Reveals $180M in Improper Funding

DON'T MISS

NASA Says 20% of Workforce to Depart Space Agency

DON'T MISS

Frustration, Gaza Alarm Drove Macron to Go It Alone on Palestine Recognition

DON'T MISS

Trump Golfs in Scotland as Epstein Questions Persist

DON'T MISS

Visalia Police Arrest Armed Robbery Suspect at Long John Silver’s

DON'T MISS

Grand Rising Brings Sober Day Party Vibes to Fresno

DON'T MISS

Jack McAuliffe, Who Started a Craft Beer Revolution, Dies at 80

DON'T MISS

Fresno Crash Leaves One Dead After Car Submerges in Canal

DON'T MISS

Lemoore Farmers Fed Up With Lack of Representation on Groundwater Agency

DON'T MISS

‘Jenny from the Block’ Rescued After Camping Out by Calwa ATM

UP NEXT

NASA Says 20% of Workforce to Depart Space Agency

UP NEXT

Jack McAuliffe, Who Started a Craft Beer Revolution, Dies at 80

UP NEXT

Key Player in California’s Water Wars Embraces Controversial Newsom Plan

UP NEXT

Tesla to Roll out Bay Area Robotaxis With Safety Drivers, Report Says

UP NEXT

California Political Lobbying Firm Agrees to Settle Federal Fraud Allegations

UP NEXT

California Cannot Require Background Checks to Buy Ammunition, US Appeals Court Rules

UP NEXT

Video-Sharing App Vine Is Returning ‘in AI Form’, Musk Says

UP NEXT

CBS News Taps Tanya Simon as New Boss of ’60 Minutes’ After Trump Lawsuit

UP NEXT

US Republicans Continue Push to Override California Animal Welfare Law

UP NEXT

Doctor Pleads Guilty to Supplying Ketamine to ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry

Trump Golfs in Scotland as Epstein Questions Persist

20 hours ago

Visalia Police Arrest Armed Robbery Suspect at Long John Silver’s

20 hours ago

Grand Rising Brings Sober Day Party Vibes to Fresno

21 hours ago

Jack McAuliffe, Who Started a Craft Beer Revolution, Dies at 80

21 hours ago

Fresno Crash Leaves One Dead After Car Submerges in Canal

21 hours ago

Lemoore Farmers Fed Up With Lack of Representation on Groundwater Agency

22 hours ago

‘Jenny from the Block’ Rescued After Camping Out by Calwa ATM

22 hours ago

Tulare Officer Injured in Crash While Trying to Save Unresponsive Infant. Child Dies at Hospital

2 days ago

PBS Has a Future by Leaving the Past Behind: Opinion

2 days ago

Fresno Council Candidate Rassamni Says City Is Investigating Him Amid Allegations by Arias

2 days ago

California School Board Resigns After Audit Reveals $180M in Improper Funding

The entire board of directors overseeing Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools in Sacramento has either resigned or been removed...

17 hours ago

The entire board of Highlands Community Charter in Sacramento stepped down after a state audit found the school improperly received over $180 million and engaged in questionable spending. (Shutter
17 hours ago

California School Board Resigns After Audit Reveals $180M in Improper Funding

The NASA logo is seen at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., April 16, 2021. (Reuters File)
20 hours ago

NASA Says 20% of Workforce to Depart Space Agency

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and French President Emmanuel Macron visit a ward for Palestinian patients at El Arish Hospital, close to the border with the Gaza Strip, in Arish, Egypt April 8, 2025. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS
20 hours ago

Frustration, Gaza Alarm Drove Macron to Go It Alone on Palestine Recognition

U.S. President Donald Trump golfs at Trump Turnberry resort in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 26, 2025. (Reuters/Phil Noble)
20 hours ago

Trump Golfs in Scotland as Epstein Questions Persist

Noah Robinson, 38, was arrested after allegedly robbing a Visalia Long John Silver’s at knifepoint and attempting to flee through nearby backyards with $110 in stolen cash on Friday, July 25, 2025. (Visalia PD)
20 hours ago

Visalia Police Arrest Armed Robbery Suspect at Long John Silver’s

21 hours ago

Grand Rising Brings Sober Day Party Vibes to Fresno

Craft Brewer Jack McAuliffe With Jim Koch of Samuel Adams
21 hours ago

Jack McAuliffe, Who Started a Craft Beer Revolution, Dies at 80

fresno
21 hours ago

Fresno Crash Leaves One Dead After Car Submerges in Canal

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend