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Duncan Hunter

Gil Bang

By Gil Bang
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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13414

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Didn’t the indictment suggest the Hunter was using funds for weekends away with girlfriends?  Wives under co-indictments don’t like to find out allegations like that.

doesnt sound like good news for Duncan.  I guess he will follow the path of deny, deny, deny but ultimately make a plea deal to spare his family some grief.  

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Js1

Js1 85113

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4 hours ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

I bet she is going the weebay route and taking the fall for everything 

Just slap an ugly blue dress on her. She's basically a Commander's Wife.

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SuingToGetAMessageBoard?

SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861

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On 6/13/2019 at 8:34 AM, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

I bet she is going the weebay route and taking the fall for everything 

Shows what I know.  Her plea agreement says her felonious husband is a felon.  Turns out she wasn't as down with him banging hoors as I thought.  Dimed on him throughout.

 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/margaret-e-hunter-admits-conspiring-her-husband-rep-duncan-d-hunter-steal-more-200000

 

SAN DIEGO – Margaret E. Hunter admitted in federal court today that she and her husband, U.S. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, knowingly and willfully used campaign funds as their personal bank account for years, spending lavishly on things they could not otherwise afford, such as expensive trips to Italy, Las Vegas, Laguna Beach, Disneyland and elsewhere, plus golf outings, a bachelor party, private school for their children, dinners in Del Mar and Coronado, and even plane tickets for their family pet, Eggburt the rabbit.

Margaret Hunter’s plea agreement indicates that she has agreed to provide “substantial assistance to the United States in the investigation and prosecution of others” and to “tell everything (she) knows about every person involved” in the crime.

U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan set Ms. Hunter’s sentencing for September 16, 2019 at 9 a.m.  The Hunters both remain free on bond.  A motions hearing relating to defendant Duncan Hunter is scheduled for July 1, 2019, and his trial is scheduled to begin on September 10, 2019.

As detailed in her plea agreement, beginning no later than 2010 and continuing up to and including at least 2016, Margaret and Duncan Hunter agreed to knowingly use campaign funds for their own personal benefit and enjoyment, and for that of friends and family.  Throughout this period, the Hunters both recognized that many of their personal outings with family or friends (including trips to Del Mar, dinners or drinks with friends, family and “couples” vacations, golf outings, and a bachelor’s party) should not have been paid for with campaign funds. Nevertheless, Ms. Hunter admitted that the Hunters continued to improperly use campaign funds on these and many other occasions.

Among the improper expenses, Margaret Hunter acknowledged that the Hunters improperly spent $2,448.27 in campaign funds in August 2011 on a personal “couples” Las Vegas vacation in Las Vegas, Nevada, and concealed the personal expenditures by falsely reporting to the campaign treasurer that the expenses were all  “campaign related.” Similarly, later that same month, knowing that their family bank account had a negative balance, the Hunters improperly used $113.73 in campaign funds to pay their half of the bill during another couples’ “date night” out with good friends at Jake’s Del Mar; improperly used $156.22 in campaign funds during a “couples” day at the Del Mar Racetrack; and improperly used $511.03 in campaign funds at the Hotel del Coronado to celebrate their child’s birthday. They once again falsely told the campaign treasurer that all the charges were “campaign related.”

Ms. Hunter acknowledged in her plea agreement that these types of improper expenses went on for years and included: (1) the Hunters’ improper use of $371.51 in campaign funds on September 2, 2012 at the Loew’s Resort in Coronado for a family lunch in connection with their child’s Irish Dance competition; (2) the Hunters’ improper use of $100.69 in campaign funds on November 16, 2013 at Casa De Pico in La Mesa to take their family and close friends out to dinner before attending a sporting event featuring one of the Hunters’ children; (3) the Hunters’ improper use of $1,489 in campaign funds on June 28, 2014 to treat their good friends to dinner at the Studio restaurant in the Montage Laguna Beach resort, and for room service, drinks, and meals the next day for the Hunters by themselves; (4) the Hunters’ improper use of campaign funds on September 26, 2015 for a family trip to Disneyland, in which Ms. Hunter used Duncan D. Hunter’s campaign card to spend $229.44 in campaign funds at Disneyland’s Star Trader shop for gifts for the Hunters’ children, including two Minnie Mouse ear headbands, a Star Wars droid knit beanie, and a raglan-sleeve black-and-gray Star Wars girls T-shirt; and (5) the Hunters’ improper use of $669.07 in campaign funds on March 27, 2016 at the Hotel del Coronado for a family Easter Sunday brunch in the Crown Room that the Hunters recognized was well outside their budget.

In her plea, Ms. Hunter also admitted improperly using campaign funds on a number of family vacations, including: (1) a July 2014 vacation to Washington, D.C. and a resort in Pennsylvania (which included personal items and activities such as purchasing cigarettes, $399 for ziplining for Hunter and two of his children, and $250 in airline travel charges for the family’s pet rabbit, Eggburt); (2) a February 2015 family trip to Minnesota, during which they improperly paid for personal family expenses including $250 in airline travel charges for Eggburt, and $132 in Uber rides to take the Hunter family to the Mall of America; (3) a June/July 2015 family vacation involving Hunter’s cousin’s wedding in Boise, Idaho, and a stopover in Las Vegas on the way there in which the Hunters, among other things, spent $205.62 in campaign funds for personal items at the North Face store, which included a new pair of sunglasses for Duncan Hunter and a T-shirt; and (4) a November 2015 family vacation to Italy, in which the Hunters improperly used more than $10,000 in campaign funds, and attempted to justify the impermissible use of these funds by setting up a one-day tour of a U.S. Navy facility in Italy.

Margaret Hunter also admitted communicating with Hunter and with the campaign treasurer about the fact that it was only appropriate to pay expenses with campaign funds when an outing or event was for a bona fide campaign or political purpose. Nevertheless, Ms. Hunter admitted that she and her husband both knowingly violated these restrictions and other rules the treasurer implemented to track legitimate expenses (such as instructing the Hunters not to purchase gas using campaign funds, instructing the Hunters that withdrawing cash from ATMs and using “petty cash” required records of how money was spent, and requiring receipts which listed the names of donors and volunteers with whom the Hunters claimed to be spending campaign funds). 

Ms. Hunter also acknowledged that she and Duncan Hunter both were aware that the other spent, and could spend, campaign funds on personal activities and purchases without having to inform one another about the nature of specific “campaign” expenses.  According to Ms. Hunter, this understanding allowed the Hunters to spend campaign funds on certain personal matters they wished to conceal from the other.  For example, she hid from Duncan Hunter certain purchases she made with campaign funds for items like children’s school lunches.

On the other hand, when they improperly spent funds when they were together, they both recognized that campaign funds were being spent on personal activities. For example, after returning home from their personal Boise and Las Vegas vacation, Duncan Hunter and Ms. Hunter discussed how the campaign card had been declined as the family had “racked up a $600 minibar…and more charges at Caesars…” as well as a $200 family breakfast, the “kids room service” and pool drinks, and gift shop vacation expenses. 

Even after Duncan Hunter’s chief of staff questioned several expenses the Hunters had made using campaign funds, Ms. Hunter admitted that the Hunters falsely insisted to campaign staff and on public reports that the personal expenses were in fact appropriate campaign-related charges.  Moreover, Ms. Hunter acknowledged that she and Duncan Hunter continued using campaign funds to secretly make thousands of dollars in improper personal purchases (including family vacations, household goods and groceries, restaurants and bar tabs, a bachelor party, gas, fast food, retail shopping, cash withdrawals, a garage door, and personal Uber rides, among others) which they continued to disguise as campaign-related expenses.

 

The actual plea agreement:  https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/press-release/file/1173281/download

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25898

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I think it’s worthwhile to mention that this story came to light because of reporting from local journalists including The Union-Tribune and The Reader

Both of those publications also did the initial reporting that ended up bringing down “Duke” Cunningham.

Journalists are important to our democracy.

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

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6 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I think it’s worthwhile to mention that this story came to light because of reporting from local journalists including The Union-Tribune and The Reader

Both of those publications also did the initial reporting that ended up bringing down “Duke” Cunningham.

Journalists are important to our democracy.

Yeah but when you head up a crime family, legitimate journalists and the FBI are the enemies and therefore should be called the enemy of the state, and you don’t ever, ever, call the FBI.

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gyroprotagonist

gyroprotagonist 2591

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glad to see this.I was hoping that Duncan would not have been re-elected, but he ran against a brown person with a terrorist name.

reminds me of another person who considered campaign funds 'his money' .  

Quote

...The story revealed that Trump’s very own transition team had raised several million dollars to pay the staff. The moment he saw it, Trump called Steve Bannon, the chief executive of his campaign, from his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and told him to come immediately to his residence, many floors above. Bannon stepped off the elevator to find Christie seated on a sofa, being hollered at. Trump was apoplectic, yelling: You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?

Seeing Bannon, Trump turned on him and screamed: Why are you letting him steal my fucking money? Bannon and Christie together set out to explain to Trump federal law. Months before the election, the law said, the nominees of the two major parties were expected to prepare to take control of the government. The government supplied them with office space in downtown DC, along with computers and rubbish bins and so on, but the campaigns paid their people. To which Trump replied: Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money. Bannon and Christie tried to explain that Trump couldn’t have both his money and a transition...

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/27/this-guy-doesnt-know-anything-the-inside-story-of-trumps-shambolic-transition-team?CMP=share_btn_tw

Poor Duncan was not lucky enough to own the hotels/restaurants/bars that he was spending his campaign finance money on.  Then it would have been totally legit and legal and cool.

Is there a count anywhere on the still open government positions?

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25898

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A buddy who’s a local GOP bigshot (not to be confused with a donut boy) says that Hunter will be forced to resign, and Darrell (the car thief) Issa will move to that district and run for the seat.

 

We threw him the fuck out up here, so the cunt will move to a redder district where he could win again.

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Doc Sam Beckett

Doc Sam Beckett 5784

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1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

A buddy who’s a local GOP bigshot (not to be confused with a donut boy) says that Hunter will be forced to resign, and Darrell (the car thief) Issa will move to that district and run for the seat.

 

We threw him the fuck out up here, so the cunt will move to a redder district where he could win again.

The old man used to pop in on those Issa demonstrations every now and then, he's gonna get lit over this shit.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89450

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On 6/14/2019 at 1:15 PM, gyroprotagonist said:

The story revealed that Trump’s very own transition team had raised several million dollars to pay the staff. The moment he saw it, Trump called Steve Bannon, the chief executive of his campaign, from his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and told him to come immediately to his residence, many floors above. Bannon stepped off the elevator to find Christie seated on a sofa, being hollered at. Trump was apoplectic, yelling: You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?

A real billionaire wouldn’t lost his shit over a few million that his campaign raised to pay his staff. 

Then again, a real billionaire could afford to pay his staff.

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Chooky

Chooky 13302

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On 6/12/2019 at 2:17 PM, Gil Bang said:

So, looks like wifey has cut a deal.  You'll remember that Duncan threw her under the bus when the charges were filed.

 

Hey baby. You know you're the reason I exist, right? Anyway, would you mind doing 3 to 5 in a medium security for my bullshit? Thanks. You are just super, but you already knew that. 

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berlinerbaer

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On 6/21/2019 at 6:34 PM, Gil Bang said:

A buddy who’s a local GOP bigshot (not to be confused with a donut boy) says that Hunter will be forced to resign, and Darrell (the car thief) Issa will move to that district and run for the seat.

 

We threw him the fuck out up here, so the cunt will move to a redder district where he could win again.

Because North County >>> East County

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Voldemort86

Voldemort86 2259

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On 6/21/2019 at 6:34 PM, Gil Bang said:

A buddy who’s a local GOP bigshot (not to be confused with a donut boy) says that Hunter will be forced to resign, and Darrell (the car thief) Issa will move to that district and run for the seat.

 

We threw him the fuck out up here, so the cunt will move to a redder district where he could win again.

You’d think the people of his new district would know that he’s a carpetbagger and not vote for him. 

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Chooky

Chooky 13302

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Hunter should've anticipated all of this and authored the precautionary Duncan Hunter's Right To Get Lots of Pussy But Can Still Prattle On About Family Values Without Having To Hear Your Bullshit About It Act of 2016 

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 104628

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Hunter should've anticipated all of this and authored the precautionary Duncan Hunter's Right To Get Lots of Pussy But Can Still Prattle On About Family Values Without Having To Hear Your Bullshit About It Act of 2016 

To be fair, that’s the party platform (actual version, not the BS published version).
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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25898

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Longcat story about the affairs and more:

Federal prosecutors have accused Rep. Duncan Hunter of improperly using campaign funds to pursue numerous romantic affairs with congressional aides and lobbyists, according to a new court filing late Monday night.

The Justice Department alleged that Hunter (R-Calif.) and his wife Margaret Hunter illegally diverted $250,000 in campaign funds for personal use, including to fund lavish vacations and their children’s school tuition. Monday’s court filings also spell out allegations that Hunter routinely used campaign funds to pay for Ubers, bar tabs, hotel rooms and other expenses to fund at least five extramarital relationships.

“At trial, the United States will seek to admit evidence of defendant Duncan D. Hunter’s expenditure of campaign funds to pay for a host of personal expenses. Among these personal expenses were funds Hunter spent to pursue a series of intimate personal relationships,” the Justice Department said in a motion to admit evidence filed on Tuesday.

“This evidence is necessary to establish the personal nature of the expenditures to demonstrate Hunter’s knowledge and intent to break the law, and to establish his motive to embezzle from his campaign.”

Prosecutors said they approached the defense to reach an agreement “that would eliminate the need to introduce this potentially sensitive evidence at trial,” but the congressman’s lawyers declined.

Hunter’s wife has pleaded guilty and agreed earlier this month to cooperate with prosecutors. Prosecutors also filed motions to permit Margaret Hunter’s testimony to be used at trial, which is slated for September 10.

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"The marital communications privilege does not protect statements made by spouses who are partners in crime,” the filing read.

Pressed on whether any of the allegations were true, Hunter repeatedly accused prosecutors of political bias.

“You have criminally politically prosecutors in this case on a personal smear campaign,” he told POLITICO. “This is the most political case in the world.”

An attorney for the California congressman did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Department of Justice also filed a motion to exclude any evidence of Hunter’s good behavior, including his military service, and other evidence that might suggest his use of campaign funds was routine among members of Congress.

The filing comes shortly after Hunter’s legal team asked for the case to be dismissed, alleging that the prosecutors are biased against him because they supported former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In response, the Justice Department asked for any claims of political bias to be excluded.

In the filing, prosecutors detail numerous instances in which Hunter allegedly used campaign cash to fund his affairs. In one episode in 2010, Hunter allegedly took a lobbyist on a "double date” road trip to Virginia Beach with a fellow congressman and then charged his campaign for the hotel room and bar tab.

In another incident in 2015, Hunter allegedly took a House leadership aide out for cocktails and then took an Uber back to his office after they spent the night together. Both expenses were charged to his campaign account, prosecutors say.

And Hunter also allegedly became intimately involved with a woman who worked in his congressional office in 2015, regularly paying for their dates with campaign funds.

The filing also says that Hunter — who has developed a reputation on Capitol Hill for drinking heavily and carousing — used campaign money to pursue “clearly non-work related activity during get-togethers with his close personal friends." But prosecutors declined to elaborate further, saying the sensitive conduct could potentially taint the jury pool.

Prosecutors described a couple so mired in debt that they had less than $1,000 in their bank account from 2009 to 2017, and owed money to stores like Macy's and Home Depot. They had begun falling behind on their children's tuition payments and missed numerous mortgage payments.

"Evidence of Hunter’s negative bank balances, overdue mortgage payments, credit card debts, and other aspects of their depleted financial condition is relevant to proving his motive, intent, knowledge, and absence of mistake in spending campaign funds for personal use," prosecutors wrote. "It explains why he himself used campaign funds to buy everything from cigarettes to gadgets to groceries to getaways — things he wanted but could not afford to buy with his own money."

Prosecutors also pleaded with the judge in Hunter's case to "admonish" Hunter to stop attacking them as politically biased. Hunter, they said, had attempted to connect his case to President Donald Trump's claims of an FBI "witch hunt" against him.

However, prosecutors said they were not prepared to seek a formal gag order "at this time."

"Hunter may freely proclaim his innocence to the public. He may dispute the validity of the charges against him. He may insist that the jury will acquit after reviewing the evidence. He may discuss matters of public record in the case. But he may not use inadmissible, irrelevant, and inflammatory allegations to inject improper prejudice into the proceedings," prosecutors said, pointing to a slew of news articles in which Hunter is quoted attacking prosecutors as leading a "witch hunt"

Margaret Hunter

Margaret Hunter, center, the wife of Rep. Duncan Hunter, arrives for an arraignment hearing in San Diego on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. | Denis Poroy/AP Photo

Prosecutors also raised the prospect that some of Hunter's colleagues in Congress could be called to testify in his trial.

"Several of the witnesses called by the United States will be close associates of Hunter who were or remain his friends, family members, employees, or colleagues," they wrote. "Some of these witnesses have understandably expressed their unwillingness or their displeasure at being required to answer questions related to Hunter’s conduct."

In another motion filed Monday, Hunter’s defense asked that the upcoming trial be moved out of San Diego. Hunter’s attorneys took an unusual tack, explicitly arguing that their client should be tried in a place where more voters cast ballots for President Donald Trump in 2016.

“As President Trump’s first and most arduous supporter, it is hard not to see how a juror would be predisposed to cast their vote based on their politics,” Hunter’s lawyers wrote. “Hillary Clinton beat Donald J. Trump in San Diego County by 56.1% to 38.2%.”

The defense says moving the case to sites in the sprawling and more rural Eastern District of California for trial would ensure that “Hunter would get an impartial jury pool of his peers.”

Hunter’s legal team proposed holding the trial in the California counties that include Bakersfield and Redding, or taking it to Lassen County, which has a total population of about 31,000 and is a 12-hour drive north of San Diego. The defense gave the judge the presidential vote percentages for each county. Trump beat Clinton 73% to 21% in Lassen, Hunter’s lawyers noted.

Some defendants seeking a change of venue commission polls to demonstrate deep-seated revulsion for their client. However, Hunter’s lawyers did not provide the judge with any polling showing how many San Diego residents are aware of the case.

The defense’s relatively brief motion instead noted that a Google search about the investigation into Hunter returns 7.5 million results, that the San Diego Union-Tribune has repeatedly editorialized against Hunter and that protesters have hounded Hunter during previous court appearances in the city.

Hunter’s lawyers even attached a Union-Tribune newspaper cartoon depicting Hunter opening a gift from his wife containing an orange prison jumpsuit.

Hunter’s attorneys have also argued that the case against him should be dismissed because prosecutors violated the immunity he enjoys under the Constitution’s speech or debate clause. Hunter’s defense says searches and subpoena directed to his Congressional offices and investigators’ interviews with his Congressional staff about his official activities intruded on his legislative responsibilities.

John Bresnahan contributed to this report.

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gyroprotagonist

gyroprotagonist 2591

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what a fucking trainwreck.  I would wager that there has to be some straight up pay for play with donors and lobbyist that did not even go through the campaign finances.  The way he was burning through money and missing his kid's school and house payments no way he was just topping off the campaign war chest.

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