From left, Reps. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, display temporary Texas tattoos to commemorate Texas Independence Day. Day 2, Wednesday, March 1, 2023 On the steps of the U.S. Capitol after the last vote of the week.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call Co., Ltd. | getty images
The House Ethics Committee said Monday it will review a congressional oversight report that finds “substantial reason” to believe Reps. Ronny Jackson and Wesley Hunt used thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal use.
Campaign committees for two Republican lawmakers representing Texas districts made payments to private social clubs over several years, according to a separate report from the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.
Jackson’s committee, Texans for Ronny Jackson, will collect dues and fees associated with the Amarillo Club, a dining club, gym and conference room in Amarillo, Texas, from 2020 to 2024. , spent nearly $12,000 on meals and other expenses, the office said.
According to OCE, Hunt’s campaign committee paid more than $5,400 in dues and fees to the Oak Room, a private club located in Houston’s Post Oak Hotel, in 2022 and 2023.
In both reports, the office found “substantial reason to believe” that each member of Congress “diverted campaign funds” from their campaign committees to “personal use” or that the committees “spent funds not attributable to bona fide campaigns or campaigns.” He said he did. “political purpose”
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee said in a press release Monday afternoon that it received recommendations for Jackson and Hunt from OCE in late March. Michael Guest, R-Miss. A panel led by the chairman and Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., jointly decided May 9 to consider the issue.
Hunt’s press release included a lengthy response from the congressman’s attorneys, who denied that campaign funds were used for personal purposes.
“The Hunt for Congress payments to the Post Oak Hotel, including Post Oak Club memberships, were used solely for campaign-related purposes and not for personal purposes,” the congressman’s attorneys wrote in a 12-page response. OCE report.
Hunt “does not maintain a campaign office” and decided that Oak Room membership fees “would be a more prudent use of campaign funds” than renting a Houston campaign office, the lawyers wrote.
A spokesperson for Hunt’s office told CNBC, “We have fully cooperated with the House Ethics Committee and anticipate that this will be dismissed shortly.”
Jackson’s office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. The Ethics Commission’s press release regarding Jackson did not include any response from his representatives.
OCE’s report noted that if the two lawmakers’ campaign committees spent funds “not attributable to bona fide campaign or political purposes,” the lawmakers “may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.”
Neither Jackson nor Hunt cooperated with the investigation, the report said, although Hunt “initially” provided “some limited information.” OCE recommended that the House Ethics Committee issue subpoenas to both lawmakers.
Jackson, who served as White House physician under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump before joining Congress in 2020, was previously accused by the OCE of misusing campaign contributions from the Amarillo Club.
More than two years after the House Ethics Committee made the allegations public, Jackson’s campaign “has continued to make payments to the Amarillo Club,” according to a report released Monday.
