Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and his wife Margaret were charged a week ago on 60 counts in a federal indictment alleging they improperly spent some $250,000 in campaign contributions on lavish vacations, meals and personal items. Hunter insists the corruption charges are politically motivated and meant to undermine his reelection campaign — and now is urging the media to leave his wife out of the matter. On Thursday, Hunter said of his wife to a Fox News reporter: “She handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when I got into Congress .... She was also the campaign manager. Whatever she did, that’ll be looked at too, I’m sure, but I didn’t do it.” He added, “I didn’t spend any money illegally.” But on Tuesday, after Hunter’s apparent attempt to blame his wife became an internet meme, he told KGTV News in San Diego: “Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it. It’s me they’re after, anyway. They’re not after my wife; they want to take me down, that’s what they’re up to. So let’s get this in the arena and have this settled.” Advertisement Both Hunter and his wife pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court last week, but in an appearance with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, the five-term congressman said his “campaign made mistakes” and that his wife had power of attorney and oversaw family expenses as well as campaign funds. “You also said yesterday that your wife handled a lot of the family expenses and campaign finances, so are you saying that it’s more her fault than your fault?” MacCallum asked Hunter. That’s when Hunter explained that his wife handled his finances while he was in the military and later in Congress. Gomez writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.<doc-sep>In this Jan. 5, 2017, photo, a painting by David Pulphus hangs in a hallway displaying paintings by high school students selected by their member of congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. Vice Admiral Karl Schultz, Commander, Coast Guard. Atlantic Area, speaks to the media about the U.S. Coast Guard ship Hamilton and the approximately 26.5 tons of cocaine that was being prepared to be offloaded at Port Everglades on December 15, 2016 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) speaks to the media before a painting he found offensive and removed is rehung on the U.S. Capitol walls on January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. The painting is part of a larger art show hanging in the Capitol and is by a recent high school graduate, David Pulphus, and depicts his interpretation of civil unrest in and around the 2014 events in Ferguson, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 23: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) walks into the Federal Courthouse for an arraignment hearing on August 23, 2018 in San Diego, California. Hunter and his wife Margaret are accused of using more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal use. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images) SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 23: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) walks into the Federal Courthouse for an arraignment hearing on August 23, 2018 in San Diego, California. Hunter and his wife Margaret are accused of using more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal use. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images) (CNN) — Indicted California Congressman Duncan Hunter (R) offered a glimpse into his legal strategy in an interview with Fox News on Thursday night: Blame his wife for the whole thing. “She was also the campaign manager, so whatever she did that’ll be looked at too, I’m sure,” Hunter said of his wife, Margaret. “But I didn’t do it. I didn’t spend any money illegally.” Ooomph. The turn to pushing his wife directly under the bus is a change even from 24 hours earlier when Hunter insisted that the 47-page indictment detailing 200 separate instances of the misuse of campaign funds for personal use was nothing more than the “Democrats’ arm of law enforcement” (aka the Justice Department) organizing a “witch hunt” (his words) against him just like they did with President Donald Trump. This is what panic looks like when facing down an onrushing federal prosecution that could lead to significant jail time. You’ll say or do anything to lessen your legal jeopardy – up to and including insisting that your wife did it all and you tried to tell her no but she wouldn’t listen. There was some inkling that things were headed this way when Hunter and his wife made their first appearance on the charges in a San Diego courtoom on Thursday. CNN’s Maeve Reston wrote of the scene: “The congressman entered the courtroom with his lawyers, but not his wife, around 9:45 a.m. PT in a navy blue suit. Margaret Hunter arrived at court separately with her legal team and entered through a side door. Duncan Hunter and Margaret Hunter sat four seats apart in the courtroom after she entered.” Trouble in paradise! Hunter’s new strategy of putting all the blame on his wife has a major hole in it, however. And that hole is this: He was repeatedly warned about her misuse of the campaign credit card and not only refused to take it from her but also kept her in a job running his campaign. It’s all right there on pages 8 and 9 of the charging document: “Duncan Hunter facilitated the theft of campaign funds by directing his Treasurer to obtain a Campaign credit card for Margaret at a time when she had no official role with the Campaign and received no official salary, knowing that she would spend campaign funds for the Hunters’ personal benefit.” “Duncan Hunter installed Margaret Hunter as his paid Campaign Manager despite the protests of his Treasurer and with full knowledge of her long history of misuse of campaign funds, in part because as they discussed the Hunters ‘need[ed] the extra money’ that would come from her salary.” “Duncan Hunter facilitated the theft of campaign funds by ignoring his campaign staff’s multiple warnings about Margaret’s improper use of campaign funds, accusing campaign staff of disloyalty by ‘trying to create some kind of paper trail on me’ when they raised concerns about improper spending, and continually refusing to remove her access to campaign funds.” What’s clear in the indictment is that Hunter was repeatedly told about his wife’s misuse of campaign funds – and did nothing (or next to nothing) about it. And, it’s not as though the money she was spending was solely for her benefit. Duncan Hunter played a lot of golf, allegedly, using campaign cash. He went on plenty of family vacations – including one to Italy. The portrait of the Hunters created in the indictment is not of a rogue wife, refusing to heed her husband’s call to change her ways. It’s of a couple conspiring to live massively above their means and working very hard to cover their tracks. Duncan Hunter appears to be trying to paint a very different picture. The problem for him is that the hundreds – literally – of instances of alleged law-breaking in the indictment run directly counter to the story he is selling.<doc-sep>Democratic congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar is running against Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, who is a subject of a federal indictment that alleges he and his wife misused $250,000 of campaign funds for personal expenses. A Fox News headline on Friday earned some criticism when it incorrectly linked the Democratic candidate Campa-Najjar to the deeds of his dead grandfather, whom he never met. Campa-Najjar's grandfather, who led an arm of a terrorist organization, was killed by Israeli forces in 1973, sixteen years before the California candidate was born. Campa-Najjar called the Fox News headline unfortunate, but encouraged readers to read through the entire article, which he described as "pretty balanced." A Fox News headline earned some criticism on Friday when it incorrectly linked a Democratic congressional candidate to the deeds of his dead grandfather, whom he never met. Twenty-nine-year-old Ammar Campa-Najjar is challenging Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter in California's 50th Congressional District, where Hunter is now embroiled in a federal indictment that alleges he and his wife misused $250,000 of campaign funds for personal use. On Friday, Fox News published a feature story on Campa-Najjar's family history, which included a mention of his grandfather, Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar, who led an arm of the Black September terrorist organization. The cable news outlet changed its headline several times. Fox News' first headline read: "Grandson of terrorist rises in race against indicted GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter." That headline was widely criticized on social media and readers accused Fox News of trying to link the 29-year-old Democratic candidate to the actions of the grandfather he never met. Fox News later changed the headline to: "Grandson of Munich terrorist rises in race against indicted Rep. Hunter, disavows dark family past." By Friday night, the headline apparently changed again: "Dem running against indicted Rep. Hunter rises in race, disavows Munich terrorist grandfather." Black September is responsible for the killings of 11 athletes and coaches during the Munich Olympics in 1972. Yusuf was was killed by Israeli forces in 1973. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California arrives for his arraignment at federal court in San Diego, California, August 23, 2018. Mike Blake/Reuters Reactions to the Fox News headline were swift "We do not support the candidacy of @ACampaNajjar but one does not have to support him to know that this @FoxNews headline is DISGUSTING," The Reagan Battalion, a conservative organization, wrote on Twitter. "@ACampaNajjar is not responsible for what his grandfather did SEVENTEEN years before he was born, he is an American just like every other!" Campa-Najjar, a Palestinian-Mexican American who worked for the Labor Department under the Obama administration, called the headline unfortunate and a "quick take," but encouraged readers to look beyond the mention of his grandfather. "The content is pretty balanced," Campa-Najjar told Business Insider in a phone call on Friday afternoon, adding: "I'm moving past it." Although Fox News writes that Campa-Najjar has come under "scrutiny of his dark family past," it does include his campaign's statement that says in part: "while he’s proud of his heritage, he is 'American first.'" "Every man is responsible for their own actions and their own crimes," Campa-Najjar said to Business Insider. As the US Justice Department pursues charges against Hunter and his wife, Campa-Najjar's campaign said it is energized to potentially upset the traditionally Republican seat in San Diego County. During interviews on cable news, Campa-Najjar highlighted Hunter's service in the US Marine Corps, but didn't shy from his corruption charges. "I think this does change the race," Campa-Najjar told Fox News host Neil Cavuto during an interview. "I just want to say that Congressman Duncan Hunter honorably served our country abroad. He fought the battles that we wage abroad for someone like me could have the luxury to fight the ones we have here at home." "I think Washington chewed him up and spat him out," Campa-Najjar added. "And he lost his way."<doc-sep>
Officials say one California representative is having a hard time drawing a line between business and pleasure — to put it lightly. After being indicted for allegedly using campaign funds for personal expenses, Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter said during a Thursday interview with Fox News that his wife was responsible for his campaign’s spending. He appeared to shift blame for possible missteps regarding campaign funds when interviewed by Fox’s Martha MacCallum about the charges both he and his wife, Margaret Hunter, face. "She was also the campaign manager, so whatever she did, that'll be looked at too, I'm sure," Hunter told Fox. "But I didn't do it. I didn't spend any money illegally." Hunter added that he and his wife are innocent and that the charges they face are politically motivated. When MacCallum questioned Hunter about the Justice Department’s accusations that Hunter took personal vacations using campaign funds, Hunter argued that the trips were actually "fundraisers." "That's how we campaigned and tried to raise money, is by traveling, having dinners, meeting people," he told Fox. The Hunters are being charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy, CNN reported. They're accused of falsifying records to hide the use of campaign money to pay for everything from household items to school lunches to trips to Hawaii, according to CNN. One example of this is laid out in an indictment obtained by CNN. The Justice Department says the Hunters bought clothing at a golf course so that the purchase "could be falsely reported to the treasurer as 'balls for the wounded warriors.’” Hunter said to MacCallum that "the campaign did make mistakes," and claimed, "There was money spent on things, not by me, but by the campaign. And I paid that back before my last election." He also noted that his wife handled his finances throughout his military career and that she continued doing so after he was elected to Congress. According to CNN, prosecutors allege that Hunter ignored "his campaign staff's multiple warnings about Margaret Hunter's improper use of campaign funds." The CNN indictment claims he told staff members they were disloyal and "trying to create some kind of paper trail" on him. Twitter met Hunter’s seeming implication of his wife with incredulousness. Writer Yashar Ali wrote that Hunter threw "his wife under the bus." Dr. Dena Grayson, the spouse of former Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, also tweeted about the incident using the familiar "under the bus" term. "What a guy. GOP [Rep. Hunter] throws his wife under the bus when asked whether his wife is to blame for the crimes he was charged with," she wrote. In his interview with Fox, Hunter questioned the timing of the indictments. The Justice Department news came days after California’s Republican primary, meaning it's too late to put another GOP candidate on the 2018 ballot. In the 2018 midterms, Hunter is set to go up against Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar. According to The Hill, the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan removed Hunter from his committee assignments because of the investigation. All this is to say Hunter is in the doghouse with Twitter and the Justice Department — and, now, perhaps also his wife.