Republican "Leadership"

Where is it?

Don't look for it in the Trumplican Party.

Alleged "Republican" House Minority Leader has a dark side typical of so many Trump sycophants and adherents. Ethical shortcomings, cheating, lying, and possibly cover-up of illegal payments. Atypically this time, the incident doesn't hint of sex-related misbehavior by McCarthy. When House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was first asked about living in a luxury apartment owned by pollster Frank Luntz. . .he emphasized that the two men have a long-term friendship.

There appeared to be no business relationship between the two men, except for a poll conducted by Luntz in 2000 for yrock.com, which McCarthy started when he was national chairman of the Young Republicans.

But Federal Election Commission filings show that the leadership PAC controlled by McCarthy — Majority Committee PAC, or McPAC — paid one of Luntz’s companies, FIL Inc., nearly $40,000 in late 2020, just before McCarthy began renting what he described as a “room” in the recently renovated apartment.

Matt Sparks, McCarthy’s spokesman, said the payments were for surveys. . .there was no connection between the campaign work and McCarthy’s rental of Luntz’s apartment.

But four days after taking possession of his multi-million dollar condo purchase on September 21, 2020, Luntz's FIL, Inc. received its first payment from McPAC.

It appears to be the only federal committee to pay one of Luntz’s companies in the 2020 cycle.

McCarthy began staying in the Luntz apartment starting in January but would not say how long he stayed.

Here's the kicker.

An unnamed McCarthy spokesman told the Daily Wire: “McCarthy rented a room of approximately 400 square feet, and under House Ethics guidelines, calculated the fair market amount at $1,500/month by comparing what other members of Congress were also paying to live in the building and additional comparables for the space in the building and neighborhood.”

Zillow currently lists studios and one-bedrooms in the Clara Barton building as between $1,675 and $2,300 a month. The bylaws of the building specifically prohibit condo owners from renting anything less than the entire space — and for not less than six months. So the cost of renting Luntz’s entire space would be significantly higher. The homeownership association fees alone on the units are $4,976 per month, according to Redfin.com.

Paying for one's personal housing costs is not an expenditure that is legal in the rules governing federal PACS. So far, no satisfactory explanation for the tens of thousands in payments has been offered by either Luntz or McCarthy.

Using campaign funds for personal use is prohibited. Commission regulations provide a test, called the "irrespective test," to differentiate legitimate campaign and officeholder expenses from personal expenses. -- https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-disbursements/personal...

Mc Carthy -- FEC disbursements illegalities
Goetz -- any number of Federal charges, similar to Greenberg's -- cocaine use.
MTG -- stalking, harassment, hate crimes against minority Congress people, abetting, if not aiding, Jan 6th insurrectionists, and no doubt more to come (Sedition)
Hawley -- aiding and abetting Jan. 6th insurrection, anti-democratic attempt to overturn legitimate presidential election (Sedition)
Boebert -- anti-democratic, unethical behavior, gun nut, disinformation perpetrator
Cruz -- sex scandal (secret mistress), major liar and history revisionist, political dirty trickster, tropical vacationer during constituent freezing crisis

By no mean ALL of the Republican reprobates, just the current top headline stealers. There's still McConnell, Johnson, Graham, Cornyn, etc.

If Republicans retake House in '22 -- a scenario that looks increasingly likely -- it will be taken by similar and worse candidates than the ones listed here. They will have an "R" behind their names, but the correct identifier initial is "T" for Trumplican.

A US lawmaker could face expulsion from Congress for lying about funding ties to an African billionaire.

Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican from Nebraska, lied to the FBI about taking illegal donations from Gilbert Chagoury, a high-flying Nigerian businessman, a federal jury found.

He could be sentenced to 15 years in prison on three felony counts.
…
Officials are yet to explicitly say why he targeted the congressman, but US Justice Department documents claim Mr Chagoury was advised to "contribute to US politicians from less populous states" because the gifts would be "more noticeable"
…
Although he is not required to do so, Republicans and Democrats in the US House of Representatives have called for him to resign. If he does not, he is almost certain to be expelled, as has been the case for previous Congress members convicted of felonies.

Jeff Fortenberry: The US lawmaker toppled by a Nigerian billionaire https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60876857

>2 2wonderY: He's resigning as of the end of the month.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/26/politics/jeff-fortenberry-resignation/index.html