While Americans were dipping their toes in the pool, grilling a few burgers, and engaging in other forms of Labor day festivities, the commander-in-chief was at the helm, thumbs aflutter, ready to tweet. And tweet he did:
Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2018
The only congressmen that fit President Donald Trump’s unnamed description here are New York Rep. Chris Collins and California Rep. Duncan Hunter; both of whom were indicted last month.
Were these investigations part of a “long running, Obama era” Department of Justice effort?
Collins was charged, alongside his son and one other individual, on August 8 with 13 counts surrounding an alleged insider-trading scheme. The call between Collins and his son wherein he, prosecutors allege, disclosed insider information regarding an Australian biotech company occurred on June 22, 2017 during a visit to Trump’s White House. Since the alleged criminal act took place during the Trump administration, these charges could not have been part of a “long running, Obama era investigation.”
In the other case, Hunter, along with his wife, is being charged with “illegally convert[ing]” over $250,000 in campaign funds for “their personal use and enjoyment” according to the indictment filed on August 21. Hunter’s alleged crimes span from “as early as December 2009 and continuing up through and including the end of 2016.”
Reports indicate that the DOJ only began investigating Hunter in March of 2017 after a watchdog group alerted the House Committee on Ethics to Hunter’s alleged misuse of campaign funds. On March 22, 2017, the ethics committee voted to defer the matter to the DOJ per its request. But the exact start date of the DOJ’s investigation is currently undisclosed. (The DOJ did not respond to TWS Fact Check’s inquiry on the matter.)
Suggesting that both of these DOJ investigations began during the Obama era is inaccurate.
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