Duncan Hunter refuses to relinquish committee posts, may be forcibly removed

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is defying Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) by refusing to relinquish his committee assignments, prompting House Republicans to move forward with a plan to forcibly remove him from those posts.

A House GOP source close to the process told The Hill on Wednesday that Hunter is not voluntarily resigning his committee assignments, despite Ryan saying on Tuesday that he would be removed from those positions following charges that he used at least $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses.

{mosads}The Republican Steering Committee will meet and make a recommendation to the House Republican Conference for Hunter’s forcible removal from the committee posts, the source said. The committee is scheduled to meet next month after House lawmakers return from their August recess.

Hunter’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The charges against Rep. Hunter are deeply serious,” Ryan said in a statement on Tuesday. “Now that he has been indicted, Rep. Hunter will be removed from his committee assignments pending the resolution of this matter.”

Hunter is a member of the Armed Services Committee, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and the Education and the Workforce Committee.

“The Hunters concealed and disguised the personal nature of many of their campaign expenditures by either falsely stating the expenses were ‘campaign related’ or by falsely reporting the item or service purchased when providing information to the Treasurer,” the Department of Justice said in the indictment Tuesday.