Ryan removes GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter from committee assignments following indictment

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) will be removed from House committees after he was charged with misusing at least $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses.

“The charges against Rep. Hunter are deeply serious. The Ethics Committee deferred its investigation at the request of the Justice Department,” Ryan said in a statement.

“Now that he has been indicted, Rep. Hunter will be removed from his committee assignments pending the resolution of this matter,” he added.

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Hunter is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Education and the Workforce Committee.

The Department of Justice alleged in an indictment Tuesday against Hunter and his wife, Margaret Hunter, that the GOP congressman used campaign funds to purchase trips to Italy and Hawaii, pay for his family’s dental work, his children’s tuition and international travel for nearly a dozen relatives.

He also allegedly spent thousands on “fast food, movie tickets, golf outings, video games, coffee, groceries, home utilities, and expensive meals.”

The Justice Department said Hunter falsified campaign records filed to the Federal Election Commission to conceal the purchases.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on Hunter to resign over the charges.

Despite the indictment, Hunter will remain on the ballot in California’s 50th Congressional District in November. A spokesman for the California secretary of state said in a statement to The Hill that there is no process to remove his name from the ballot.

Hunter will face a Democratic challenger, Ammar Campa-Najjar, in a district that President Trump won by 15 points in 2016.