My1sttoday: Trump pardons congressman who spent campaign funds on vacation and video games. Way back in 2016, US congressman Duncan Hunter faced an accusation of spending more than $1,300 of his campaign funds on Steam games.
Which he claimed it was his teenage son who was responsible for one charge, while the others were unauthorized charges that came as a result of him attempting to block access to Steam.
Two years later, Hunter and his wife were indicted over allegations that they’d used $250,000 worth of campaign funds for personal expenses and filed false campaign finance records to keep it quieted. Military media outlet Task & Purpose noted at the time that these expenses ran the gamut from groceries to a family vacation to Italy.
It indictment also said that the Hunters “spent a total of $1,528.68 in Campaign funds at Steam Games on videogame charges”, which is of course more than they were initially accused of having spent.
Hunter’s wife and campaign manager Margaret pleaded guilty in June last year, and was sentenced to three years probation and eight months of house arrest in March this year. Would you believe she filed for device just a few weeks ago? Hunter decided to fight the charges right up until December 2019, when he eventually settled on a plea deal and admitted to a single charge of misusing campaign funds.
Hunter was sentenced to 11 months, scheduled to start in May 2020 but was postponed to January 4th 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic. Well, he has been saved by Trump pardon.
As reported by NPR, Hunter has been given a full pardon by outgoing US President Donald Trump, who seems to have decided to use his last month in office to gift out presidential pardons like Santa Christmas gift.
The White House issued a statement confirming that the pardon has been granted “at the request of many Members of Congress,” and added Hunter’s case “could have been handled as a civil case via the Federation Election Commission. Although Hunter’s wife is not part of the Pardon.