San Diego, CA.- San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr. and his wife Margaret were indicted on fraud and campaign finance related charges.
The charges stem from Hunter and his wife’s misuse of $250,000 worth of campaign funds for personal expenses and the filing of false campaign finance records. The Department of Justice investigation went on for nearly two years.
A federal grand jury in California returned the 48-page indictment detailing the allegations against the couple.
Hunter has issued a statement refuting the indictment, calling it "politically motivated." Pointing to a letter citing two prosecutors who attended a Hillary Clinton fundraiser were involved in the prosecution.
Duncan Hunter Jr. Statement
I believe in our American system of justice, I support our system of justice. I cannot say the same, however, for those within our justice system that have a political agenda to harm those with whom they differ.
One of the pillars of our country since its founding is that those tasked with enforcing the law would do so in an unbiased manner, allowing evidence to dictate how cases should run, with nothing impeding the rule of law. Unfortunately, this is not the case today. 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. This is evidenced by the fact that after two years of investigating, the Department of Justice decided to take this action right before my election. For over two years, I have made myself available to cooperate with this investigation in any manner. To date, I have not been asked one time to answer any questions or address any issue. I have not had one opportunity to present my side of anything in this investigation or to counter any allegations against me.
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.
I have focused on one thing; doing the job with which I was elected to do. I have worked to represent my constituents, voting on policy issues that I believe would benefit our nation and opposing those that would do us harm. I have helped those having problems with federal agencies and advocating for those who have fallen through the cracks of bureaucracy. This is what I will continue to do, these efforts will not stop, and I am not going anywhere.
The actions of the Justice Department speak for themselves. It is a sad state of affairs when those entrusted with upholding the law have no appreciation for following the rule of law. Consider this; overwhelming evidence indicated that Hillary Clinton took direct action to circumvent investigations into her campaign, she was interviewed and no action was taken. After two years of investigation into my campaign, I have never been interviewed and they made a decision to prosecute.
Additionally, three prosecutors, two of which are directly involved this case, attended a fundraising event at a private home in La Jolla in 2015, one of which was the individual who signed the indictment. We know these individuals attended this event from 9:00-12:00 noon during working hours. We are told that this was at the request of Secret Service to officially assist law enforcement with protection, but this explanation is disputed by former U.S. Attorneys familiar with the responsibilities of their office. The obvious question is why would the Secret Service need three prosecutors at a fundraising event? The answer is they are partisan prosecutors.
My constituents are not easily misled. I know they can recognize a political agenda when they see it and they can disregard empty rhetoric when they hear it. I fought for our nation against terrorists in the Marine Corps. I fight for my constituents in the halls of Congress. I will fight this in the same manner and with the same level of determination because I believe in what I am fighting for and still have faith that evidence and the rule of law will trump political agendas and bias.
U.S. Attorney Responds To Charge of Bias
The U.S. Attorney's Office responded to that charge:
“The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California and the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. reviewed and rejected Mr. Hunter’s complaints,” Kelly Thornton, Media Relations Director for the U.S. Attorney’s Office told NBC 7. “The Secret Service requested the prosecutors’ attendance and routinely asks prosecutors to attend events involving their protectees.”