Violations by GOP Rep. Ross Spano
The Justice Department is investigating allegations of campaign finance violations against Florida GOP Rep. Ross Spano. Spano denied any wrongdoing.
The House Ethics Committee was contacted by DOJ to inform them of the revelation. The Ethics Committee traditionally defers to law enforcement agencies while ongoing cases are being investigated.
Spano was a Florida state legislator who was elected to Congress in November 2018. Spano claimed that $ was derived from private funds. Nevertheless, it was discovered that Spano had $180,000 in loans.
After the election, Spano’s lawyer wrote a letter to Federal Election Commission and requested that the Federal Election Commission upgrade the registered reports. Although he was sworn in to office on program, Spano’s lawyer filed complaints and urged House Democrats not to seat him.
In September, the Congressional Ethics’ office filed a petition to request a formal investigation. While the OCE recommendation was evaluated by the Ethics Panel, a Justice Department investigation has been initiated. However, the panel did not consider it.
“Now, the House Committee on Ethics has deferred their inspections of my self-reported filings to the FEC. In a statement issued by his office, Spano stated that we plan to work closely with the Justice Department in this matter.
“As I mentioned, we acknowledged that mistakes were made regarding the effort loans. However, these errors were completely accidental and unintentional. This was the reason we self-reported it. We are confident that the Justice Department will also see this as a possibility upon inspection.”
Spano blamed President Donald Trump’s impeachment investigation by the House for the criminal investigation by the DOJ.
“I still have doubts about the timing and logic of this query. Since the impeachment proceedings last week have shown me how far the left will go to ruin their competitors,” Spano said. “I am committed to the issues that are important to my constituents.”
The Democratic goal record for the fundamental Florida spano district is next year. It leans Republican, but it’s still on Democrats’ goal list. At 6 points, lawyer Kristen Carlson was defeated in spano by 2017 and President Donald Trump won the district by 10 points in 2016.