The wife of the representative of California Hunt could have demolished him in a corruption case
When California Representative Duncan Hunter was charged with 60 criminal charges in August 2018, he accused him of spending more than $ 250,000 on luxury travel, tequila, Costco purchases and other donations to the personal items campaign. The first reaction was to blame his wife.
"She handled my financial situation," Hunter, 42, told Fox News last year. "She is also a campaign manager, so no matter what she does, she will be worried."
"But I did not," he added. "I did not illegally spend money."
Now, Margaret Hunt may be retaliating; As a result, it can help Democrats replace her husband in Congress.
Initially, Margaret Hunter, 44, followed her husband's leadership and pleaded innocent to all charges. (She was accused of him last summer). But on Thursday morning, he appeared before a federal court in San Diego and changed course, surprising the political world, recognizing a conspiracy to use the funds of the campaign to go to Italy on holiday in 2015 and demonstrate a fraudulent expense of $ 200,000 that involves at least 30 illegal transactions.
"Today I filed a guilty plea in the US District Court," Hunt said in a statement by his lawyer, Thomas McNamara, in court. "In doing so, I fully assume responsibility for my actions, I deeply regret, I apologize, I feel sorry for the damage caused by my family and others, I know that my actions will have more consequences, but as with the request made. this morning, I took the first step towards these consequences. "
Under his 22-page plea agreement, Hunter undertook to testify in any trial or post-trial proceedings that the government deems necessary and inform federal and state law enforcement officials and attorneys of everything he knew about the case. . If you continue to work together, you will face a series of small accusations and recommend forgiveness.
When reporters asked her if Hunter also agreed to testify for her husband, McNamara refused to respond.
If Margaret Hunter "flays" her spouse, she will most likely serve as the prosecution's star witness at the September trial, which will help them get a conviction, which in turn could incite the Democrats. Get rid of the opportunity of Hunter Republican: sit in the San Diego area.
The problem is not the scope of the so-called crime. The indictment last summer, after more than two years of coverage at the San Diego Union Forum, detailed the alleged misuse of campaign funds by 200 hunters: $ 1,300 for video games, bars and restaurants for more than $ 140,000. Includes a $ 5,000 snack; two separate flights to Warsaw, Poland, the mother of Margaret Hunt; a garage door; travel to Italia; oral surgery; Bloomingdale's cosmetics; tickets to Sea World; private school tuition And lunch, for this family of rabbits, this is a $ 600 all-terrain ticket.
In an unforgettable incident together, the indictment alleges that when Congressman Hunter wanted to buy a pair of "Hawaii shorts" to play golf, but had no money at hand, Margaret Hunt suggested that she go to a golf store. The campaign is accused of misquoting the purchase as "providing some [golf] for the wounded warrior."
In a plea agreement signed by Margaret Hunter on Tuesday, she directly implied that her husband was involved in many of these fraudulent transactions.
According to the prosecution, your expenses are part of financial mismanagement. It has been reported that for more than seven years, hunters have exceeded personal bank accounts by more than 1,100 times, and the costs of "overdraft" and "insufficient funds" have increased by $ 37,761. The records show that hunters often use campaign funds when their personal accounts are low or overdraft.
However, before the midterm elections in November last year, all this information was widely disseminated, and Hunter managed to defeat his Democratic candidate, the former Obama administration official, Ammar Campa-Najjar, although there was only a small gap of three points. Hunter won from 27 to 42 percentage points in the conservative military elections of the 50th District of Congress, and his father, also known as Duncan Hunter, represented Congress for nearly 30 years.
The next question is not whether the voters of CA-50 will have an impact on Hunt's behavior by November 2020. The question is whether Hunter can do this.
If Hunter is convicted, the charges against him can be punishable by up to five years in prison, there are no constitutional or House of Representatives rules requiring his expulsion from Congress; If you are incarcerated, you will no longer be allowed to vote on your behalf, but it is in technology. He can reserve his seat. Even so, it is almost certain that he will renounce the pressure of the Republican leaders.
Hunter had resisted this plea before. After the indictment, Hunt refused to resign or withdrew from the ballot, blaming the Democratic Party for "deep country" for "pursuing" the case, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Threatened with depriving the hunter of the committee's mission, he initially broke the standard practice and refused to surrender. (In the end, Hunter was soft, and has been helpless since then).
However, Hunter is almost impossible to eliminate with confidence. If he tries to stay in Congress, Democratic leaders will have a choice. Or they vote to expel him, it is a rare maneuver that has only been used five times in the history of the United States, mainly in 2002, or they can let him stay.
The latter will be more of the Machiavellian option. Palestine: Mexican-American Campa-Najjar began operating again in 2020. It is difficult to imagine that Republican opponents are weaker than imprisoned criminals. As Campa-Najjar said in a statement on Thursday, "We can no longer pay the cost of Hunt's corruption in the CA50 ... We should get more than just a congressman, he's in Congress. pay the fees of your lawyer.
However, it is more likely that the convicted hunter succumbed to the Republican pressure or was expelled by congressional force. Both results will unleash a special election in the House of Representatives. In California, such elections are usually convened within 14 days of being fired or resigned, and are held 126 to 140 days later.
As the trial is expected to continue until early October to mid-October, this will lead to the special elections in March or April 2020.
Larry Welsh, retired from the Navy, two Republicans, and Temecula from California, Congressman Mattral, have announced the main challenge for Hunter, who may be in the top two in the non-partisan ranking. In the primaries, in front of Ammar-Najjar (and perhaps others) and continue with the special elections.
Either way, Ammar-Najjar can benefit from the funding and attention of the National Democratic Party, which is trying to add another former Republican seat to the seven seats in California in 2018.
It was not clear on Thursday what prompted Margaret Hunt to suddenly change her request, endangering her husband's political future. But the answer may lie in the accusation. According to the prosecutor, five anonymous people benefited from the illegal spending of members of Congress: people between 14 and 18 years old. Everyone "lives in Washington, DC" and has a "private relationship" with Duncan Hunt, according to the indictment. Consumption related to these "individuals" includes weekend stays at the Lake Tahoe Resort and Uber rates from one of their homes to the Hunter Congress Office at 7:40 a.m. on Thursday.
In a letter to the Department of Justice in August last year, Hunter's defense attorney, Gregory Vega, opposed the inclusion of these details in the indictment, saying the prosecutor had included a suggestion that "the campaign funds the expense unfair extramarital. "
Previously, when Politico faced the problem of the "romantic relationship with two women the FBI had already asked," Hunter considered the issue "junk garbage."
Either way, the hunter seems to have been separated. As reported by the San Diego Union-Forum on Wednesday, "the couple first appeared in court immediately after being sued in August," but "received the recent separate procedure." The newspaper said the couple "has been sitting in the court differently." Part. Avoid talking or [eye contact]. "
