Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) could face a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged campaign finance violations during her bid for the Republican presidential nomination last year, the Daily Beast reported Monday. The allegations are currently being investigated by the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics, which has about three months to decide whether to recommend cases for further investigation to the Ethics Committee.
Two other former staffers confirmed the existence of the investigation this weekend, and on Monday Bachmann’s campaign counsel, William McGinley of the high-powered firm Patton Boggs, confirmed that the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) was looking into the Congresswoman’s presidential campaign last year…
Former staffers tell the Beast that investigators have allegedly asked about allegations of improper transfer of funds and under-the-table payments actions by Bachmann’s presidential campaign, specifically in relation to the campaign’s national political director, Guy Short, and Bachmann’s one-time Iowa campaign chairman, State Senator Kent Sorenson. Questions directly about Bachmann, they said, have been primarily focused on what she knew about those men’s actions and when she knew it.
As the Daily Beast report details, this is not the only campaign-related investigation Bachmann is currently facing. In January, TPM reported on a Federal Elections Commission complaint from a former top adviser to the congresswoman alleging campaign finance violations.
