Representative Duncan Duane Hunter, Official Portrait
The Tuesday indictment of Rep. Duncan Hunter on corruption charges could have an impact on a number of defense-related pet projects for the Republican lawmaker, including the potential sale of military drones to Jordan.
The indictment charges that Hunter and his wife, Margaret, who served as a campaign consultant, stole more than $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for overseas vacations, bar tabs, dental work and other personal purchases, despite objections from staff.
Hunter, a 41-year-old California Republican, has repeatedly denied the charges, and indicated Wednesday he intends to continue to run for re-election in November.
But following his indictment, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced that Hunter’s committee assignments would be revoked while the criminal case is pending (emphasis applied, Chuck) — including his seat on the House Armed Services Committee.
I hate to see this happen. As chair of the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, Representative Hunter has been a strong advocate for the Coast Guard. With funding for the Icebreaker in the balance it is a bad time to weaken a strong pro-Coast Guard voice.
Is Paul Ryan planning to put a Interim Chair in place or put the Committee on Indefinite Hold until the problem is resolved…
Presumably someone will have an interim chair position. The ranking member, John Garamendi. is also a strong supporter of the Coast Guard.
This is off subject but what is the deal with the USCGC Kimball? The ship was under going builder trials in December 2017. But there is no new information about when she is to be delivered to the Coast Guard. Even the ships Facebook page is vague about information, other than the crew seems to be doing a lot of TAD duty around the fleet.
Kimball is expected to arrive in its homeport, Honolulu, in Dec. probably will be commissioned shortly there after. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/04/02/storied-coast-guard-ship-retires-after-50-years-service.html
It is usually less than 18 months from launch to commission, but Kimball was launched 17 Dec. 2016, so it does seem to be taking longer than expected.