NEW: Indicted congressman's wife pleads guilty to corruption
SAN DIEGO — The wife of U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter pleaded guilty Thursday to a single corruption count and agreed to testify against her husband at his trial on charges the couple spent more than $200,000 in campaign funds on trips, dinners, clothes and other personal expenses.
In a statement read by her attorney after accepting a plea agreement that could send her to prison for up to five years, she said she accepts full responsibility for her actions. Prosecutors allege the couple engaged in more than 30 illegal transactions totaling more than $200,000 between 2010 and 2016. The spending included money for trips to Italy, Hawaii and Las Vegas and expensive dinners, as well as more mundane items like shirts and tequila shots.
Duncan Hunter said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press that political reasons prompted the U.S. Justice Department to pressure his wife to testify. The California congressman's attorney, Gregory Vega, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that Margaret Hunter's decision should have no impact on his client's federal corruption case.Since the indictment, the Hunters have entered U.S. court in San Diego separately with their own attorneys and also have left separately. Rep. Hunter did not attend his wife's hearing Thursday.
Forge prosecuted California Rep. Randy"Duke" Cunningham, who resigned from Congress in 2005 and served more than seven years in prison for one of the worst bribery scandals to ever bring down a federal lawmaker. They also are accused of trying to conceal the illegal spending in federal campaign finance reports. Duncan Hunter's lawyers said in 2017 that the couple repaid the campaign about $60,000.
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