Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter responded to reporters about his 47-page indictment filed this week.
Hunter, 41, was indicted for allegations he illegally used more than $250,000 in campaign funds for his family's "personal use and enjoyment" and then hiding it. But now he is saying the charges against him and his wife Margaret, which are conspiracy to commit wire fraud, falsification of records and aiding and abetting in the prohibited use of campaign contributions, were brought on by "partisan Democrat prosecutors." He also said he has no plans to resign.
“This is political — period,” Hunter told reporters. “This is the U.S government — what I would call the deep state — or folks in the U.S. government that don’t care what the election does, they want to rig the election their own way, because they can’t beat me in a real election.”
The indictment listed 200 instances in which the Hunter family allegedly made personal purchases using campaign funds. They used the money for family vacations, meals and everyday household expenses.
Hunter is denying these charges saying, “I’ve never used my campaign for personal expenditures — ever.”
Items listed on the indictment trial back to his first year of Congress in 2009.
“It’s the U.S. government trying to make you look bad,” he said. “They can make it look however they want to make it look, we all know this.”
Hunter also denied overdrawing his personal bank account 1,100 times in the last seven years which resulted in $37,000 in overdraft fees.
“I didn’t have as much visibility on my personal finances as I should have,” Hunter said. “There’s nothing illegal about being poor. I don’t think there’s anything illegal about not having money in your bank account.”
Hunter has a yearly salary of $174,000 and his campaign paid his wife $3,000 a month to be campaign manager.
“I’m not resigning,” Hunter said. “I’m not gonna resign with a bunch of leftist government thugs throwing allegations at me...This means nothing — the indictment is all they have. They only have what you’ve now seen. That’s it. I’ve done nothing wrong and I say bring the trial now.”
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