The Arizona Republican agreed to pay the fine and admitted the violations, which stemmed from dealings with a former chief aide, Oliver Schwab.
“We are pleased that the Committee has issued its report and we can move forward from this chapter,” a Schweikert spokesman wrote in a statement that did not address the substance of the findings. “As noted in the review, all issues have been resolved and Congressman Schweikert will continue to work hard for the Arizona 6.th District.”
The Ethics panel’s reprimand ends a long and sometimes controversial investigation into Schweikert’s payments to a consulting firm owned by his former chief of staff. The committee had created a special investigation subpanel to carry out Schweikert’s investigation and detailed the misconduct in a 13-page report.
For two years, that subcommittee interviewed 18 people, including staff from Congress and from the past and current campaign. He issued four citations and said that Schweikert sometimes gave “false testimonies” and “selfish statements” that went beyond “minor lapses in memory” or small differences from the testimony of others.
“Efforts like those that Representative Schweikert undertook to delay and impede the ISC investigation were not only very damaging to the Committee’s work and the House’s reputation, but were also punishable misconduct,” the report says.
One of the most important findings of the Ethics panel is that Schkweirt had paid more than $ 270,000 to a company whose sole employee is Schwab for seven years, violating the external revenue limit for senior congressmen. Schwab left his job in Congress in 2018 after seven years. That same year, the assistant also returned more than $ 50,000 to the campaign.
The Ethics panel considered a House-level censure sanction, one of the most severe types of reprimand against a member. But the group eventually sought a lesser penalty, “largely due to the congressman’s willingness to accept responsibility and the agreement to pay a substantial monetary fine.”
The investigation into Schweikert and Schwab stemmed from a complaint filed with Congressional ethics watchdog, the Congressional Ethics Office, after reports on the Washington Examiner.
Schweikert had previously insisted that the problem was one of inaccurate paperwork, rather than an ethical violation.
“This is purely administrative,” said Schweikert in 2018. “We buy coffee, it’s on. [Schwab’s] credit card and we will refund you. And when they made the refunds, they marked it as income rather than refunds. Then know that we all have to relax. “
Ethical sanction could be a major problem for Schweikert’s reelection, whose suburban seat in Phoenix had already been observed by Democrats in November.
Trump won the district by 10 points in 2016, but agents on both sides acknowledge that he could be vulnerable due to his sad fundraising and ethical issues. And House Democrats have come up with a well-funded challenger to take on Schweikert.
His most formidable Democratic opponent is Hiral Tipirneni, an emergency room doctor who participated in a 2018 special election in a neighboring district.
She has to beat three other Democrats in the Aug. 4 primaries, but Tipirneni has the most resources, with $ 1.6 million in the bank at the end of June. Schweikert had less than $ 240,000.
Ally Mutnick contributed to this report.
