The bi-partisan U.S. House Ethics Committee says it's extending an investigation into the conduct of U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib(D-Detroit). The ethics committee is looking into whether the Detroit Democrat potentially misused campaign funds.
Tlaib says she’s done nothing wrong.
The ethics committee says that after Detroiters elected Tlaib on November 6, 2018 – but before she took office – she was still receiving thousands of dollars from her campaign fund. That could violate federal regulations because politicians are only allowed to receive salaries from their campaign funds up to the date of the general election.
A report released Thursday by the ethics committee suggested it could subpoena Tlaib and three of her staffers.
Tlaib’s attorneys say that the funds were delayed salary payments she’s permitted to take during a campaign, and needed as a single parent who left her job to run for Congress. They add that it is unprecedented for the House to investigate what a member did before they even took office.
Tlaib says she was following rules that ensure, “financial privilege is not a prerequisite for participating in our democracy.”
The freshman congresswoman has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump. She called for Trump’s impeachment well before any official inquiry. The president tweeted she and three other congresswomen of color should go back where they came from, which in Tlaib’s case would be Detroit.
