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The wife of Representative Duncan Hunter of California pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge in a case in which she and her husband were charged with using more than $ 200,000 in bankruptcy funds. campaign for personal purposes, including sumptuous dinners, vacations and a private school for their children. , and even plane tickets for their pet rabbit.
Margaret Hunter, who also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, acknowledged in federal court in San Diego that she had conspired with her husband to violate the campaign finance law.
"I am deeply moved and I apologize," said Hunter, 44, through her lawyers, Tom McNamara and Logan Smith. "I have accepted full responsibility for my conduct." She will be liable to a five-year jail sentence and a $ 250,000 fine when she returns to Canada. she will be sentenced on 16 September, about a week after the start of her representative's trial.
Mr Hunter, a former Iraqi and Afghan naval officer elected for the first time in 2008 at a siege held by his father, did not attend the hearing on Thursday. But in a statement, he said the case was politically motivated.
"I do not have all the details of the Margaret case, but it is obvious that the Justice Department has pursued her so that she will come to me for political reasons", did he declare. "It remains that this case should have been handled by the Federal Electoral Commission."
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In a statement to the hearing, Gregory Vega, counsel for Representative Hunter, stated that Ms. Hunter's guilty plea would not have an immediate impact on her client's case.
"At the moment, that does not change anything about Congressman Hunter," said Vega, according to the San Diego Tribune. "There are still important motions that need to be argued."
Mr. Hunter, a Republican, has sought to accuse his wife of corruption charges, claiming in an interview with Fox News in 2018 that she was responsible for the couple's finances.
"Whatever she did, it will also be taken into account, I'm sure," he said. "I did not do it. I did not spend money illegally. "
Mr. Hunter also reacted to the charges by accusing a plot of "deep state".
Ms. Hunter's decision to plead guilty to a single charge of bribery and the cooperation agreement with prosecutors comes 10 months after she and her husband have been charged by a federal grand jury in San Diego with dozens of misdemeanors of campaign funds from 2010 to 2016 and have filed false campaign funding records with the Electoral Commission Federal.
The August 2018 indictment followed a multi-month criminal investigation into allegations that Hunter had spent tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds on family trips to Hawaii and Italy, Private lessons for her kids and even plane tickets for a Eggburt pet rabbit.
The 47-page indictment detailed numerous cases in which the Department of Justice stated that the Hunters spent the campaign money for themselves because they lived well beyond beyond their means, their bank accounts were debited more than 1,000 times.
Beyond family vacations and tuition fees in private schools, the indictment mentioned the following expenses: dentistry, theater tickets, and national and international travel for nearly a dozen parents, as well as " tens of thousands of dollars for more modest purchases, including quick meals for golf, video games, coffee, groceries, housewares and expensive meals, "according to a statement released by the Ministry of Justice.
According to Ms. Hunter's plea agreement, she agreed to provide "substantial assistance to the United States in the investigation and prosecution of third parties" and "to tell everything (she) knows about every person involved, "according to the release of the Ministry of Justice. .
Ms. Hunter, in her lawyers' statement, said, "I understand that my actions will have more consequences. But as I demonstrated this morning by entering advocacy, I took the first step to deal with these consequences. "
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