Jackson and Hunt face ethics probes over club membership

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps. Ronny Jackson, Republican of Amarillo, and Wesley Hunt, Republican of Houston, are under investigation for using campaign funds for private club memberships in connection with a potential violation of campaign finance rules, according to reports released Monday by congressional investigators.

Jackson has spent nearly $12,000 since 2020 on memberships at the Tony Amarillo Club, and Hunt has spent more than $74,000 between April 2022 and January 2024 at the Post Oak Hotel, including membership fees at its exclusive Oak Room club , according to reports. Federal campaign finance rules allow campaign funds for specific events at private clubs, but not generally for membership or unlimited access.

The Office of Congressional Ethics approved the reports in March and sent them to the House Ethics Committee for investigation. The OCE is comprised of professional, nonpartisan staff members who recommend ethics investigations to the House Ethics Committee. The committee has five Republican and five Democratic members of Congress and can recommend sanctions to be voted on by the full chamber. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, is the only Texan member of the committee.

The House Ethics Committee announced separate investigations into Jackson and Hunt in May, but details of the allegations were scarce before Monday, when the committee released the OCE reports as part of a requirement procedural aimed at expanding their investigations.

Jackson said in his written response to the OCE investigation that he did not violate ethics rules. Hunt provided documents relating to his expenses to Oak Room, but they were largely redacted, according to the OCE. He declined to appear for an interview at the office, but his lawyers said he had done nothing wrong.

The OCE and Ethics Committee opened a nearly identical investigation in 2022 into Jackson’s use of campaign funds to pay Amarillo club dues. The ethics committee never released its findings on that investigation — a signal Jackson apparently used to continue using campaign funds for the club.

In a 2022 email to the ethics committee, Jackson’s lawyers said club membership included fundraising event space that was less than the cost of renting meeting space on a individual basis. His lawyers said Jackson and his wife never benefited personally from their membership in the club.

“This baseless OCE complaint raises no new information, and despite more than two years in the Ethics Committee, it is still under review,” a Jackson spokesperson said in a statement when the Committee Ethics announced the investigation earlier this year. “Once again, Congressman Jackson has nothing to hide, and he and his team have fully complied with the Ethics Committee’s requirements from the beginning. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the leftists of the OCE have decided to waste taxpayers’ money by attacking civil servants for absolutely nothing. »

The spokesperson oriented his comments on the OCE reports released Monday to the May statement.

The OCE report states that the Amarillo club refused to provide information that could confirm that Jackson used the club for strictly electoral reasons.

The Amarillo Club offers fine dining, wine tasting, views of West Texas and a private gym. It also offers reciprocity with other exclusive clubs across the country, including the Capitol Hill Club in Washington. The Capitol Hill Club is a favorite venue for Republicans and hosted a meeting with President Donald Trump and House Republicans earlier this month.

Hunt’s expenses include membership fees and other expenses at the Post Oak Hotel, home to the exclusive Oak Room club. His campaign finance disclosures show a 2022 “membership” expense of $2,706.25 at the club. A further disclosure, a year later, involved an expense for the club of exactly the same amount, labeled as “food/drink”.

Hunt’s lawyers point to an earlier Federal Election Commission opinion that social club dues could be allowed if they were strictly for campaign-related activities and not lifestyle changes, such as a club. sport or country. Unlike the Amarillo Club, the Oak Room does not have sports facilities and is largely a meeting and dining space. The expenses cited in the OCE report were for Hunt’s campaign monitoring team, his lawyers said.

“Consistent with the stated purpose of the Oak Room, the Congressman used his Post Oak Club membership exclusively for meetings in the Oak Room with campaign donors, supporters, consultants and vendors.” , Hunt’s lawyers said in a letter to the OCE. “We have provided OCE with numerous emails, text messages and calendar entries demonstrating the Congressman’s use of the Oak Room and other hotel facilities for these purposes.”

The more intimate Oak Room is frequented by Houston celebrities and has a strict no-camera rule. Peyton Manning, Jon Bon Jovi and Kendall Jenner have all hosted events there, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Hunt and Jackson are not the only Texas lawmakers under investigation by the committee. U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, a Richmond Republican, is under investigation after his campaign paid more than $25,000 in rent to a company registered in his name. Nehls’ lawyer said the company was connected to the campaign and the expenses were legitimate.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar is also under investigation by the committee for allegedly accepting bribes, working as a foreign agent and money laundering. The committee’s investigation follows his federal indictment in Houston on the same charges. Cuellar is expected to go to trial next year.

Jackson was also the subject of an investigation by the Defense Department’s inspector general regarding allegations that he acted inappropriately as White House physician. The inspector general found in a 2021 report that he bullied subordinates and made sexually inappropriate comments in his position. The Navy later demoted him from admiral to captain.

Jackson served as a White House physician to Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. He rejected the inspector general’s report, calling it retaliation for his support of Trump.

“There is no nice or polite way to say this: It is a completely absurd political stunt,” Jackson wrote in his 2022 memoir, “Holding the Line.”

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