A Federal grand jury indicted Republican congressman Duncan Hunter for allegedly misusing more than $250,000 in campaign funds last week. The Justice Department released the 48-page indictment on Tuesday after a month-long criminal investigation.Â
Hunter and his wife, Margaret, are charged with using campaign funds for some pretty extravagant purchases. It’s definitely not your typical grocery bill or fancy dinner. CNN obtained the 48 page indictment that claims Hunter used the money towards delinquent dentist bills, family trips to Hawaii and Italy, private school tuition for his children, and a $600 plane ticket for his rabbit.  According to the statement by the Justice Department, he used “tens of thousands of dollars on smaller purchases, including fast food, movie tickets, golf outings, video games, coffee, groceries, home utilities and expensive meals.”Â
The indictment also claims that the Hunters filed false campaign finance records to the Federal Election Commission. Hunter denies doing anything wrong, despite the indictment claiming he “knowingly conspired with each other” to use the money for personal expenses. Hunter later blamed his wife for how the finances were handled, according to CNN.
GOP fraudster Hunter Duncan is now changing his tactic from stupidly blaming Democrats for his illegal misuse of campaign money with his wife, to blaming his wife entirely for all of it. ?pic.twitter.com/ilg7KSAHRI
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) August 24, 2018
A spokesman for the congressman, Michael Harrison, told The New York Times that Hunter said he “believes this action is purely politically motivated.”Â
According to The Hill, Hunter released a statement through his campaign, “The fact is that there is a culture operating within our Justice Department that is politically motivated. We are seeing this with President Trump; we are seeing this with my case.”Â
“All the while, there has been a constant barrage of misinformation and salacious headlines in our media regarding this matter. I purposely choose to remain silent, not to feed into this witch-hunt and trust the process,” Hunter also said.Â
The indictment continues to claim that his family was in financial trouble without the campaign funds. In the past seven years, they allegedly overdrew their personal accounts more than 1,000 times.Â