Duncan Hunter
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Duncan Duane Hunter (born December 7, 1976) is an American politician who is a United States Representative from California, serving under the 52nd and 50th districts. He has committed campaign finance violations, wire fraud, adultery, and lied to officials.
Hunter has had five adulterous relationships while married to Margaret Jankowski (his current wife), bought things ranging from video games to groceries with campaign finance (and to make it even worse, lied about being charitable with it), and has allegedly committed war crimes back when he was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Iraq in the early 2000's.
He was previously viewed as a "hero" by fanatic nicotine addicts who are pro-vape due to him using an e-cigarette in the Chamber of the House of Representatives.
Financial crimes edit
In April 2016, Hunter came under scrutiny from the Federal Elections Commission regarding his use of campaign funds for personal expenses from 2015 to 2016, after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an ethics complaint.
In August 2016, the Office of Congressional Ethics made a recommendation to the Ethics Committee for a full investigation into Hunter. Hunter and his wife, Margaret, who was being paid $3,000 monthly from campaign funds in her role as campaign manager, shared a campaign fund credit card which had charges which were questioned. The expenses included $1,302 in charges for video games, $600 to pay for a family rabbit to travel by plane, clothing from Abercrombie & Fitch, a donation to their son's school, payments to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, travel costs including 32 payments for airfare, hotel stays in Arizona and Italy, groceries, a nail salon visit, tuition, non-specified items at a surf shop, and outdoor equipment
On August 21, 2018, a federal grand jury of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California indicted Hunter and his wife on 60 counts of wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy. The San Diego U.S. Attorney's Office accused the couple of conspiring to misuse $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses, as well as filing false campaign finance reports. Personal expenses charged to the campaign included vacations in Italy and Hawaii, theater tickets, and purchases in the gaming platform Steam. The indictment says that when Hunter wanted to buy some shorts for himself, his wife suggested that he falsely report the purchase as "golf balls for wounded warriors". On another occasion he tried unsuccessfully to arrange a tour of a Navy base as a cover for a family vacation trip to Italy. When the Navy couldn't arrange something on the date Hunter wanted, Hunter told his chief of staff to "tell the Navy to go fuck themselves." The indictment also alleges that Hunter spent campaign money on "personal relationships" with five women in Washington DC, listed as Individuals 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 in the indictment. The women were said to have included lobbyists and one of his own congressional staffers. "Throughout the relevant period, the Hunters spent substantially more than they earned," according to the indictment. "They overdrew their bank account more than 1,100 times in a seven-year period, resulting in approximately $37,761 in 'overdraft' and 'insufficient funds' bank fees." He pleaded guilty in December 2019 and was sentenced in March 2020 to eleven months in prison. He was pardoned that same year by President Donald Trump.
War crimes edit
Hunter under fire after admitting during a podcast interview that his Marine Corps unit "killed probably hundreds of civilians" during the atrocity-laden First Battle of Fallujah in 2004. According to US veterans of the assault, as well as survivors, journalists, medical personnel, human rights groups and others, Marines indiscriminately killed men, women, children, the elderly and disabled residents of the city. Civilians waving white flags of surrender were cut down by snipers, who also targeted ambulances carrying the wounded and dying to the few remaining functional clinics left in the city.