WASHINGTON (AP) — Four House lawmakers say they had no idea that a 2013 congressional trip to Azerbaijan (ah-zur-by-JAHN’) was paid for by that country’s government.
Aides to Reps. Ted Poe and Ruben Hinojosa of Texas, Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma and Leonard Lance of New Jersey say lawmakers got approval for the May 2013 trip from the House Ethics committee.
Two Houston-based nonprofit corporations told the committee they were sponsoring the conference in the capital city of Baku, near the Caspian Sea.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company allegedly paid $750,000 to cover travel expenses for the lawmakers — as well as scarves, rugs and other gifts — by sending funds through the nonprofit corporations.
Congressional rules bar foreign governments from paying for travel by members of Congress.
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I guess the “scarves, rugs and other gifts” just weren’t explicit enough as hints.
3 Rs and 1 D: must have been a representative delegation from the House maroon caucus. I do hope they brought back enough gifts to share with everyone else.
Baku looks like a smelly armpit of a city.
I’m sure they did (trip/expenses/gifts) at about 200K per Rep. So I’m thinking about half of that in gifts. But I’m not feeling positive about the “share with everyone else” part.
Screw the “Scarves, rugs and other gifts”.
How much in SuperPAC Campaign Donations did this Foreign Government give? (we will never know.)
What was the necessity of the trip?