From left, Rep. Monica de la Cruz (R-TX), Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) show off their Texas tattoos in honor of Texas Independence Day on March 2, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol after the final vote of the week, Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it would review the congressional oversight agency. report It found “probable cause” to believe that U.S. Reps. Ronny Jackson and Wesley Hunt used thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal purposes.
A separate report by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics found that the campaign committees of two Republican lawmakers representing Texas districts made payments to private social clubs over multiple years.
Jackson’s committee, Texans for Ronny Jackson, spent about $12,000 between 2020 and 2024 on dues, fees, meals and other expenses associated with the Amarillo Club, a dining club, gym and meeting room in Amarillo, Texas. I found the office.
Hunt’s campaign committee paid more than $5,400 in dues and fees to the Oak Room, a private club at Houston’s Post Oak Hotel, in 2022 and 2023. According to OCE.
In both reports, the attorney general’s office said it found “probable cause to believe” that the lawmakers “misappropriated campaign funds” from their election committees or that the committees “expended funds not attributable to legitimate election activities or political purposes.”
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee said in a press release Monday afternoon that it received a referral from the OCE regarding Jackson and Hunt in late March. The committee, led by Chairman Michael Guest (R-Mississippi) and Ranking Committee Member Susan Wild (D-Pennsylvania), voted on May 9 to jointly reexamine the matter.
Hunt’s press release included a lengthy response from the congressman’s lawyers. Denying campaign funds It was used for personal use.
“All payments made by Hunt for Congress to the Post Oak Hotel, including membership fees for the Post Oak Club, were made solely for campaign-related purposes and not for personal purposes,” the congressman’s lawyers wrote in a 12-page response to the OCE report.
Because Hunt “does not maintain a campaign office,” he determined that paying Oak Room dues would be a “more prudent use of campaign funds” than renting an office in Houston, his lawyers wrote.
A spokesperson for Hunt’s office told CNBC, “We are cooperating fully with the House Ethics Committee and expect the case to be dismissed shortly.”
Jackson’s office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment, and the ethics committee’s press release about Jackson did not include a response from his representatives.
The OCE report noted that if either senator’s campaign committee spent funds “not attributable to legitimate campaign or political purposes,” the senator “may have violated House rules, standards of conduct and federal law.”
The report said neither Jackson nor Hunt cooperated with the investigation, but Hunt “initially provided” “limited information.” The OCE recommended the House Ethics Committee issue subpoenas to both senators.
Before joining Congress in 2020, Jackson served as the White House physician under then-President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump. Previously accused The OCE accused the Amarillo club of misusing campaign funds.
The report, released Monday, said that more than two years after the House Ethics Committee uncovered those allegations, Jackson’s campaign “continued to provide funding to the Amarillo club.”
