This post has been updated.
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed complaints with the FBI and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics on Thursday, calling on officials to investigate whether Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) violated federal law by using Senate staff and/or resources to conduct opposition research against actress Ashley Judd, a former prospective candidate in Kentucky’s Senate race.
“Using taxpayer-funded resources to pay staffers to dig up dirt on political opponents isn’t just an ethics violation, it’s a federal crime,” CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a statement. “As Sen. McConnell requested, the FBI is investigating the recording. A thorough and fair investigation necessitates the bureau also inquire into whether Sen. McConnell himself violated the law.”
McConnell, who is up for re-elction in 2014, accused the “political left” earlier this week of bugging his campaign headquarters after a secret tape emerged of a strategy session regarding Ashley Judd’s potential candidacy and her mental health. The tape was obtained by Mother Jones magazine.
CREW cites two aides employed by McConnell’s Senate office who appeared to be present during the February meeting at the senior senator’s campaign headquarters in Kentucky, Phil Maxson and Josh Holmes. Under federal law, however, staffers are allowed to volunteer for campaign events in their spare time. Read CREW’s complaints here.
Update:
Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the NRSC, brushed off CREW’s inquiry in a statement to TPM as a “frivolous complaint based entirely on a maliciously transcribed, illegal record.”
McConnell’s team has maintained that the recording was illegally obtained, meeting with FBI officials on Wednesday in an effort to prosecute those involved. According to WFPL News, a local Democratic operative in Kentucky claims that two leaders of the group Progress Kentucky were responsible for the recording.
