The second-in-command to an admitted briber of Duke Cunningham is facing a federal inquiry for possibly improper campaign contributions, according to a new report.
Retired three-star general James King, top deputy to Duke briber Mitchell Wade, is being investigated by the Federal Election Commission for $12,000 in what appear to be “straw” campaign donations to congressional campaigns, U.S. News and World Report says.
The potentially illegal contributions — all made to lawmakers representing districts of strategic importance to King’s company — were first reported by TPMmuckraker.
King is now chief of Athena Innovative Solutions, renamed from MZM Inc. when Wade pleaded guilty and sold the company. For a time, King worked as a top aide to Michael V. Hayden, then chief of the National Security Agency, on contract from MZM. Hayden is now director of the CIA.
The U.S. News piece is lengthy, and adds even more color to the established portrait of Mitchell Wade as corrupt, megalomaniacal, vengeful and petty. It also has some good details on King, too. For instance, the magazine reports that one of King’s favorite aphorisms is, ‘There are no lies; the truth keeps changing.’
