U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said he will soon resign from American Congress after pleading guilty to charges of misusing over $US250,000 ($365,647) in campaign funds, including $US1,528 ($2,235) that he spent on Steam games.
“Shortly after the Holidays I will resign from Congress,” Hunter said in a statement today. “It has been an honour to serve the people of California’s 50th District, and I greatly appreciate the trust they have put in me over these last 11 years.”
Hunter was indicted last year on charges of “wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations and conspiracy” related to using campaign funds to pay for everything from family groceries to video games. He then proceeded to go on Fox News and blame nearly everything on his wife, who was also indicted.
Following the original report by the San Diego Union-Tribune back in 2016 where the allegations of mishandling campaign funds first surfaced, Hunter blamed his son for the Steam game charges. Duncan’s wife, Margaret Hunter, pleaded guilty in June of this year. A few weeks later it was revealed in a court filing that Duncan Hunter spent some of the campaign funds on extramarital affairs.
While Hunter’s trial was originally set to begin in January, the congressman plead guilty to the charges in U.S. federal court this past Tuesday. He’d previously spent the last year maintaining his innocence and calling the investigation a “witch hunt.”
Hunter’s announcement of his forthcoming resignation comes after failing to get his party’s endorsement to run for another term in the House earlier this spring.
We still don’t know what exact Steam games Hunter, or his son, or his wife, used U.S. federal election funds to purchase, but at least we’ll always have that one time Hunter vaped during a U.S. Transportation Committee hearing about whether to ban e-cigarettes on planes.
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