Idiots of the Week: 2 More Politicians: Insider Trading/Illegal Use of Campaign Funds

Rep. Duncan Hunter

We don't need to include Michael Cohen or Paul Manafort in "Idiot of the Week," because you've heard the news of those two idiots. Two other idiots you may not have heard about are 2 politicians, both Republicans. They were convicted of Insider Trading and Illegal Use of Campaign Funds.
   One from California, one from New York.
They are: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), has been indicted, along with his wife, on charges of filing false campaign finance records.  AND Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), was indicted for insider trading earlier this month.


1) ARTICLE Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife indicted in use of campaign funds for personal expenses

(CNN)   Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret, routinely -- and illegally -- used campaign funds to pay personal bills big and small, from luxury vacations to kids' school lunches and delinquent family dentistry bills, according to a stinging 47-page indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The charges of wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations and conspiracy were the culmination of a Department of Justice investigation that has stretched for more than a year, during which the Republican congressman from California has maintained his innocence.
The detailed indictment portrays the Hunters as living well beyond their means and said they "knowingly conspired with each other" to convert campaign funds to personal use.
Federal prosecutors contend that the Hunters repeatedly misrepresented what their expenses were for -- in one instance buying personal clothing at a golf course so that the purchase "could be falsely reported to the treasurer as 'balls for the wounded warriors,'" the indictment says.
The indictment also charges that Duncan Hunter facilitated the "theft of campaign funds" by directing his treasurer to obtain a campaign credit card for his wife at a time when she had no formal role.
The congressman then insisted that his wife be named as his paid campaign manager -- over the objections of his treasurer -- because, according to the document, he said the family needed "the extra money that would come from her salary."
Prosecutors said Hunter also allowed the alleged theft to take place by "ignoring his campaign staff's multiple warnings about Margaret Hunter's improper use of campaign funds." He lashed out at aides, the indictment says, by accusing them of disloyalty and "trying to create some kind of paper trail on me."

Rep. Chris Collins

The indictment makes it clear that the Hunters were in dire financial straits and could not have supported their lifestyle without the use of those campaign funds.


2) After Collins indictment, House members seek to crack down on lawmakers’ board service
WASHINGTON POST - Aug. 21, 2018

House Republicans and Democrats introduced a resolution on Tuesday that would ban the chamber’s lawmakers from sitting on the boards of publicly traded companies, an ethics measure that responds to the criminal indictment of Rep. Chris Collins earlier this month.

Collins (R-N.Y.) was the chairman of Innate Immunotherapeutics, a pharmaceutical firm based in Australia that has pursued a novel treatment for multiple sclerosis. Federal prosecutors allege that Collins, while attending a White House event, leaked confidential information about the failure of a crucial drug trial to his son, allowing family members to avoid nearly $800,000 in losses by selling their stakes before the results were made public.