U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a top ally and defender of President Donald Trump, paid $28,000 to a speechwriter who worked for Senior Advisor to the President Stephen Miller and was reportedly fired by the White House after he attended a white nationalist conference.
House rules prohibit taxpayer funds from being used for speechwriters or communications advisors.
Politico, which first reported the apparent ethics violation, says the Florida Republican Congressman “has privately engaged in several spending practices in his nearly four years in office that appear to be in conflict with the House’s ethics rules.”
Gaetz’s office calls it “an innocent clerical mistake.”
Congressman Gaetz also had a private television studio built in his father’s home.
“Taxpayers foot the bill to rent the television camera, and the private company that built the studio — which Gaetz refuses to identify — takes a fee each time he appears on air,” Politico’s investigation revealed.
That arrangement also may violate House ethics rules, which prohibit lawmakers and their family members from accepting gifts of more than $50.
Gaetz’s office claims the House Ethics Committee approved both arrangements but provided no proof.