Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) illegally used campaign funds to pay for “intimate” encounters with several women, the Justice Department said in a court filing on Tuesday that adds to charges that Hunter and his wife misused $250,000 of his campaign’s money.
The filing describes the San Diego lawmaker using the funds to engage in “intimate personal activities unrelated to Hunter’s congressional campaign” with different women, all of whom were working as lobbyists or congressional staffers.
Those activities allegedly included ski trips near Lake Tahoe, a double date road trip, drinks at bars, Uber rides and shared hotel rooms. The filing does not go as far as to say the encounters were of a sexual nature but does state that Hunter spent “intimate” nights with these women that were “not about business.”
Hunter is accused of misused his campaign funds for this purpose from 2010 to 2016.
A spokesman for Hunter did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment on the allegations. However, the Justice Department indicated in the filing that it expects the six-term congressman to justify spending campaign money on the women by saying they were involved in his campaign.
Tuesday’s development comes nearly two weeks after the lawmaker’s wife, Margaret Hunter, who worked as her husband’s campaign manager, changed her previous not-guilty plea on the corruption charges and agreed to testify against her husband at his upcoming trial. She could face up to five years in prison when she is sentenced on Sept. 17.
Hunter is a vocal advocate of President Donald Trump and won reelection last November as he was already facing corruption charges. Beyond the allegations in Tuesday’s filing, he and his wife are accused of spending a quarter of a million dollars in campaign funds on luxurious vacations to Hawaii and Italy, theater tickets and tequila shots while they were drowning in personal debt.
Trump complained last September that the charges against Hunter would affect his chances during the midterm elections. He has not spoken out about the Justice Department’s new allegations.