All posts tagged "Tom Rust"

As 45th and 46th presidents of the United States squared off in the first debate of 2024 presidential general election season, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) used his official congressional social media to broadcast his MAGA support.

"An objective truth that cannot be denied: Only one of the men on the stage tonight is qualified and capable of being elected President in 2024. It is the biggest mismatch in the history of presidential debates. #MakeAmericaGreatAgain," wrote Johnson on his congressional X account on June 27 with a photo of himself exiting a plane alongside former President Donald Trump.

The since-deleted post appeared to violate the House Committee on Ethics' policies prohibiting the use of official resources for campaigning or political purposes, ethics experts tell Raw Story....

Since Jan. 1, at least 37 members of Congress have violated a federal insider trading and conflicts-of-interest law, a Raw Story analysis of congressional financial disclosures reveals.

Most of these violations involve failures to properly disclose stock trades as required by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012. Some involve not abiding by the transparency and personal financial disclosure requirements first outlined in the STOCK Act's post-Watergate predecessor, the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.

The most significant violator clocked in as much as six-and-a-half years late when reporting up to $8.5 million in stock transactions — Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA). Another lawmaker was just a couple days late but still logged up to $165,000 in late stock disclosures — Rep. John Curtis (R-UT). Between them are numerous other Republicans and Democrats alike who have consistently failed to abide by the STOCK Act....

Buried in a U.S. House report that alleges Rep. George Santos (R-NY) misused campaign funds on Botox treatments, Sephora products and OnlyFans, and personally benefited from all sorts of self-enriching misdeeds, House investigators also revealed that the freshman lawmaker failed to file an annual congressional financial disclosure report.

That last bit might sound a little … technical.

But members of Congress who don’t publicly disclose their personal finances in a timely manner are in violation of rules outlined by the House and Senate ethics committees as well as federal law: the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012. These laws are designed to safeguard against the very kinds of financial malfeasance for which Santos is accused. ...

A Republican candidate for a toss-up 2024 U.S. House seat has violated a federal law by failing to file a financial disclosure due nearly three months ago, according to a Raw Story review of federal records.

Tom Barrett, a former Michigan state senator and representative, has yet to file a mandatory personal financial disclosure as required by federal law and the House Committee on Ethics.

Barrett filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on July 7, and he raised $5,000 by July 10 according to a Raw Story review of federal election fundraising data....

Members of Congress keep messing up — over and over and over again — in failing to abide by an 11-year-old financial disclosure and conflicts-of-interest law.

And the habitual lack of compliance with the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act — dozens of lawmakers have violated its disclosure provisions during the past three years, often offering tortured excuses — is eroding the public’s trust, one of the law’s original authors tells Raw Story.

“I mean, come on. ‘The dog ate my homework,’ aren’t we a little more grown up than that?” said former Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA). “If we're capable of voting on whether or not to raise or lower taxes or send people to war, I think we can report when we make an investment.”...