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Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

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Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

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Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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Celebrate the fucking wins.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

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Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Rep. Duncan Hunter Soon to be Known as Felon Duncan Hunter

Rep. Duncan Hunter Soon to be Known as Felon Duncan Hunter

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First he screamed fake news, then he blamed his wife, and now he is going to plead guilty:

Rep. Duncan Hunter — who is accused of illegally dipping into campaign funds to pay for vacations, video games and more — will plead guilty in federal court on Tuesday, CNN confirmed on Monday.

“I’m going to change my plea to guilty,” Hunter said in an interview with CNN affiliate KUSI. One of Hunter’s attorneys, Devin Burstein, confirmed to CNN on Monday afternoon that the plea will be guilty.

“I think it’s important that people know that I did make mistakes. I did not properly monitor or account for my campaign money,” Hunter said.
“I am responsible for my campaign and what happens to my campaign money,” he added.

Citing the reasons for his change of heart, Hunter said, “I think it’s important not to have a trial for three reasons and those three reasons are my kids.”

So Hunter is going to plead guilty and hopefully sod off to spend more time with his kids. Sorry, kids.

Reader Interactions

61Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    Well, I do feel sorry for his kids. But not sorry enough to not wish he gets everything coming to him, including a prison sentence and fines substantial enough to financially bankrupt his morally bankrupt ass. And permanent banishment from the public sphere. And a really big wart on his nose.

     

    ETA: also, hemorrhoids. Prostatitis. Gout. Eczema.

     

    Did I miss anything?

  3. 3.

    Eljai

    The first two congressmen to endorse Trump (Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins) have both pleaded guilty to criminal charges.  I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

  4. 4.

    Anonymous At Work

    Not so much as the horrors of the judicial system on his kids but the horrors of what their father actually did with illegally-gotten money is my best guess for the decision.  When your defense is “I rented the hookers who came with cocaine” against charges of renting hookers and buying cocaine, you really should just plead guilty and cut a deal.

  5. 5.

    jeffreyw

    “i’m taking the deal on one count so they don’t throw away the key when I lose at trial on all sixty counts.”

    I would like to think he will do time but I’m not at all sure that he will. They need to Duke Cunningham his ass, for the encouragement of others.

  7. 7.

    H.E.Wolf

    This alternate definition also seems very suitable to describe Rep. Hunter:

     

    A felon is a fingertip abscess deep in the palm side of the finger. It usually is caused by bacterial infection….

    It is important to get treatment quickly for felons when they are small….

    Also, an untreated felon can spread its infection….

  9. 9.

    PPCLI

     

    [Hunter] and his wife, Margaret, are alleged to have used over $250,000 in campaign funds for their own personal use, which included dental bills, meals, vacations, school tuition and even flying the family’s pet rabbit Eggburt cross-country.

    …..

    Prosecutors offered new details about how Hunter had used campaign funds in court filings late Monday in preparation for Hunter’s trial. They described his relationships with unnamed women in Washington and said Hunter used campaign money to pay for hotel stays and late-night Uber rides after visiting their homes.

    …

     

    In January 2010, prosecutors said Hunter spent a weekend skiing at Lake Tahoe with a lobbyist, referred to in the filings only as Individual 14, and paid for the hotel tab with $1,008 in campaign funds. He also used campaign funds to pay for airfare and car rentals on that trip.

     

    Thus Spake Hunter:

     

    “I think it’s important that people know that I did make mistakes. I did not properly monitor or account for my campaign money,” Hunter said.
    “I am responsible for my campaign and what happens to my campaign money,” he added.

     

    Isn’t it a condition of pleading guilty that the defendant give a full and honest accounting of his crimes? Because if this weasely obfuscation is the best he can do, he’s not going to impress any judges.

     

    “I am sorry Judge. I regret that I didn’t monitor my campaign funds with the kind of diligence needed to ensure I wasn’t using it for sexytime hotels and airline tickets for my bunny.”

  13. 13.

    WhatsMyNym

    @PPCLI: prosecutors said Hunter spent a weekend skiing at Lake Tahoe with a lobbyist, referred to in the filings only as Individual 14, and paid for the hotel tab with $1,008 in campaign funds. He also used campaign funds to pay for airfare and car rentals on that trip.

     

    WTF!  Is he stupid or what.   The lobbyist is supposed to be paying, not you.

  14. 14.

    Barbara

    Having the government call your mistress as a witness to confirm that your hotel expenses were not business related could be hard on your kids.

  18. 18.

    Yutsano

    @kindness: Haven’t heard anything about a divorce. Too lazy to look up if that’s happening. Hunter should definitely get an STD exam. He stuck it in a LOT of different holes.

  19. 19.

    randy khan

    I think Hunter would be a remarkably ineffective legislator if he were re-elected and also was in prison.  After all, you actually have to be present on the floor to vote in the House.   I would imagine that would be a good argument against him in an election campaign.

  24. 24.

    Mary G

    @Baud: Even worse. Darrell Issa’s moving east and running there. I love Ammar Campa-Najjar to bits, but the fact that his grandfather was one of the Munich Olympics murderers is just not going to fly in that district, right or not. As dirty as Darrell plays and all the money he has to pour in there, it will take a miracle.

  27. 27.

    Redshift

    @Eljai:

    The first two congressmen to endorse Trump (Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins) have both pleaded guilty to criminal charges.  I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

    The best people, my ass! They’re not even good at crime!

  28. 28.

    Mary G

    Judge Brown has no fucks left to give:

    BREAKING: Judge denies Trump admin request to stay order requiring McGahn to appear for testimony. Also flays DOJ, calling its arguments 'disingenuous' & 'unacceptable mischaracterization'. Doc: https://t.co/gCQs18Ivq6— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) December 2, 2019

  29. 29.

    burnspbesq

    If the people of San Diego County are dumb enough to vote for Issa—again!—it’s hard to sympathize.

  32. 32.

    Mary G

    @Mary G: Didn’t get the edit box. I got Judge Brown Jackson’s name wrong

     

    For the legal eagles: does this mean McGahn will testify? If so, will he answer any questions?

  33. 33.

    Martin

    I think the way this played out was that he and his wife were on the same page and then prosecutors revealed to the wife that much of the money was spent on his infidelity, then she flipped on him, he threw her under the bus.

    He should have married Jim Jordan instead. That dude is loyal.

    I wonder if we can take out Nunes as well. CA-25 moved from lean Dem to solid Dem, so we’ll almost certainly keep Hill’s seat. I wouldn’t mind seeing Republicans fight for both 22 and 50. Shame we can’t seem to get 23 in play as well.

  37. 37.

    chris

    @Mary G: Re: edit box. I’ve had to refresh 3-4 times, first to see my comment and then to see the edit box. AND it keeps dumping my nym but that could be a function of private browsing.

    Linux/Firefox

     

    ETA:So it pops up on the first refresh. Who TF Knows?

  41. 41.

    geg6

    Just a quick message to all BJers:

     

    If I come off as especially snarky or pissy in any comments I make this evening, it’s because it cost me $700 to get my car inspected today.  Then on top of that, I got an email today about how the VA is changing pretty much every facet of how our programs are approved for payment of VA educational benefits.  Just one small aspect of this seems to mean (it’s not completely clear) that I have to apply for approval for even already approved programs.  That’s just one example.  I am not happy.

  43. 43.

    Duane

    The unauthorized biography of Melania Trump will be released in February. “Free, Melania” is the title. Also something  she says to her husband everyday.

  45. 45.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Duane: There is no evidence that she is free. On the contrary, she appears to have engaged in barter for goods of substantial worth.

  46. 46.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    It’s almost like the money spend itself of its own volition and he just failed to set limits for it… cuz he’s such a good dad, a fun dad.

  47. 47.

    J R in WV

    @chris:

     

    it keeps dumping my nym but that could be a function of private browsing.

    Definitely due to private browsing, which specifically won’t save cookies, which is where your Balloon Juice ID data is stored for next time.

     

    That’s what private browsing is about, not saving any data at all from session to session.

  48. 48.

    J R in WV

    @Eric S.:

     

    I had the same thought. Went wasn’t the lobbyist paying?

    Because his lobbyists were all attractive young women he was screwing. They weren’t going to pay for shit, they were working really hard just being with him!

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @geg6:

    If I come off as especially snarky or pissy in any comments I make this evening,

    Didn’t notice any difference. :-)

     

     

     

    Sorry about your troubles.

  52. 52.

    chris

    @J R in WV:

     

    Definitely due to private browsing

    Yeah, but it seems to be a time thing too. The window and tag have been open for ages. Anyway, just a mild annoyance.

  53. 53.

    trnc

    “I think it’s important that people know that I did make mistakes. I did not properly monitor or account for my campaign money,” Hunter said.

    I assume the guilty plea is being done to stop an enormous amount of malfeasance from coming to light, because “How was I supposed to understand why my bank account only got larger even while I spent a shitload of cash on vacations, etc?” is not a terribly winning argument.

  54. 54.

    trnc

    @PPCLI: Isn’t it a condition of pleading guilty that the defendant give a full and honest accounting of his crimes?

    I doubt it. Maybe there’s some leeway in the sentencing based on details in the plea, but it saves the time and cost of a trial so it’s a win regardless.

  56. 56.

    Grung_e_Gene

    Duncan Hunter has now earned the sobriquet Ex-Marine; for anyone unversed in Marine Corps parlance, calling someone an Ex-Marine is the highest insult. Convicted felon Hunter (Reprobate) should be stripped of his EGA and quatrefoil… that is until Traitor Trump pardons Hunter.

  59. 59.

    William D

    Longtime constituent of Duncan Hunter (and his dad of the same name). In other words, my candiate for Congress always lost. Recently received an interesting fundraising letter from Issa (I have no idea how I got on that list).  Issa ignored Hunter and promised to be the Trumpiest Trump candidate to ever Trump in Congress. Especially compared to that other Republican, carl damaio, a former city councilman and mayoral candidate turned radio talk show guy that Issa paints as a secret liberal who hates trump. This would suprise people familiar with damaio and who are not in the trump cult. Sadly, this district seems to be full of Maga types. Who knows, the two might split the Trump vote and enable the democratic challenger, Ammar Campa-Najjar, to make the general election runoff at least, and then who knows? Worth contributing to his campaign to troll the magas at the very least (he’s palestinian AND mexican AND an Obama administration alum)

  61. 61.

    Aleta

    Admit you made a mistake but leave out the ‘intentionally stole’ part.    And tell the kids you’re pleading guilty because of them?  ‘I did it for your sake’ is close to ‘It’s your fault.’  He’s probably making them feel bad for the vacation $ he stole ‘for their sake’ too.

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