Rep. Duncan Hunter pleads guilty in federal campaign finance case

SAN DIEGO — U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican and former U.S. Marine, admitted his guilt Tuesday in a yearslong campaign finance scandal and now awaits his sentence.

Hunter, who with his father served East San Diego County in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly four decades, all but ended his political career during a brief hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan, pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to convert campaign funds to personal use. He said only one word to the judge, “Guilty.”

Sentencing was set for March 17.

Details of the plea agreement were not immediately released, although Hunter himself indicated in a television interview Monday that he expected to serve prison time and that he would leave Congress.

He will likely face up to five years in prison when he is sentenced March 17, but he may receive much less time behind bars.

According to portions of the agreement read in court, the congressman admitted to a single count of conspiracy.

More specifically, he confessed to knowingly and willfully converting campaign funds to personal use in amounts greater than $25,000 or more during a calendar year. The admission of $25,000 or more is significant because it exposes the defendant to a longer prison term.

The agreement also stipulates that Hunter began using campaign funds improperly “no later than 2010,” meaning barely a year after he arrived in Congress. The criminality continued until at least 2016, it adds.

Also, “there was an agreement between Hunter and Margaret Hunter” to misuse campaign funds, the agreement said.

In the deal with prosecutors, Hunter admitted that in August 2011 he spent $511 in campaign funds at the Hotel Del Coronado “to take his wife and children out for a family celebration for his daughter’s birthday.”

“To conceal and disguise these personal charges, (Hunter) falsely informed his treasurer that all the charges were ‘campaign related,’” according to the agreement.

Hunter, who was accompanied to court by his father, also admitted to a second overt act: spending $409 in campaign funds at a French bistro in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2016, for a social outing with friends.

The admission represents a stunning turnaround from August 2018, when Hunter answered his 60-count indictment by claiming that federal prosecutors were out to get him for being one of the earliest supporters of President Donald Trump.

He also repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed for years that media reports about his questionable campaign spending were “fake news.”

Hunter, 42, was first elected to Congress in 2008. He succeeded his father, also named Duncan Hunter, who won an upstart campaign during the so-called Reagan Revolution of 1980 and served 28 years in the lower house.

The younger Hunter was indicted 16 months ago along with his wife of 21 years, Margaret Hunter.

The couple were accused in a sweeping indictment of using more than $250,000 in political contributions to pay personal expenses, including private-school tuition for their children, fast food, home repairs and even $600 in airfare for the family pet rabbit, Eggburt.

Duncan Hunter also was accused of using campaign funds to pay for a series of extramarital affairs he had with five women, including three lobbyists and two congressional staffers. Among other things, he used political contributions to pay for cocktails, resort stays, Uber rides and lavish meals, according to prosecutors.

Hunter was returned to Congress by a majority of voters in November 2018 despite the criminal charges leveled against him three months earlier.

He insisted he was running for a seventh term even as he challenged the charges, although three prominent Republicans joined the 2020 race for the 50th District seat in case Hunter was convicted or pleaded guilty.