It turns out Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA) wasn’t the only one on that trip to Saudi Arabia. Yesterday we noted that last December, Cunningham made the second of two trips to Saudi Arabia funded by San Diego real estate developer Ziyad Abduljawad, a naturalized US citizen.
On this second trip, Duke made a pit stop in Athens to pick up Tommy Kontogiannis.
On Monday Duke pled guilty to accepting bribes from Kontogiannis (aka “co-conspirator #3”) in exchange for unspecified official acts.
But it turns out that Cunningham wasn’t the only member of Congress on the trip. Fellow Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) was also along for the ride.
Contacted late this afternoon, Rep. Calvert told TPM that the duo picked up Kontogiannis in Athens and later dropped him off in New York after their trip to Saudi Arabia.
Calvert said he’d never heard of Kontogiannis before the trip or since.
According to Calvert, the three spent their time in Saudi Arabia meeting with government ministers and exploring ways the Saudis could be more helpful in prosecuting the war on terrorism.