House Republicans are preparing to forcibly remove Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., from his committee assignments after members return from August recess after Labor Day.
According to a source familiar with the plans, the House Steering Committee is expected to vote on Sept. 4 to remove Hunter from his committee assignments — the Armed Services Committee, the Education and the Workforce Committee, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee — as the California Republican refuses to do so after being indicted on dozens of charges, including campaign finance crimes.
Should the 31-member steering committee vote to remove Hunter, they will bring the issue up for a full vote in the House. This comes a day after House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced he would strip Hunter of his assignments.
A spokesman for Hunter did not respond to a request for comment. The news was first reported by Politico.
The indictment, released Tuesday, accused Hunter and Margaret Hunter, his wife, of using upwards of $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for personal expenses and filing misleading and false Federal Election Commission reports to cover up their purchases.
[Opinion: Duncan Hunter is greedy and corrupt and has no place in the GOP or Washington]
In one instance, according to the indictment, the couple used campaign funds to pay for a vacation to Italy in 2015 and covered it up by saying the trip “was mostly military/defense meet related” after he planned a swing by a U.S. naval facility in Italy, which never occurred.
Hunter is still on the ballot in November in what could be yet another pick-up opportunity for House Democrats.
The California Republican was one of the first two House members to support President Trump’s presidential campaign back during the 2016 primary contests. The other House member to come out and support Trump at the time was Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who is retiring from Congress at the end of 2018 after being charged with insider trading.
