Regarding Tara Reade’s allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Joe Biden in 1993, and what the allegation could mean for Democrats this fall, some stock phrases come to mind. Hoisted on their own petard. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Be careful what you wish for. Above all: The road […] More

Political conventions have been a balloons-and-bunting mainstay of American campaigns since the Republican Party gathered in Baltimore to nominate Henry Clay for president in 1831. But this year, they may join the list of crowded events — concerts, baseball games, movies and Broadway shows — forced off the stage because of the coronavirus. And it […] More

Strong results in New Hampshire and Iowa helped the senator achieve a landslide victory. He is clearly in the lead to win the democratic nominations and take on Donald Trump in a presidential election.  Sanders’ rivals congratulated him but galvanised their supporters as they looked ahead to the South Carolina race and Super Tuesday in March, when […] More

When Representative Duncan D. Hunter of California and his wife, Margaret, were accused by federal authorities in 2018 of spending nearly $250,000 of campaign funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle, they responded in two very different ways.Mr. Hunter, a Republican and Marine Corps veteran, denied any wrongdoing, accused prosecutors of participating in a “deep state” conspiracy and even sought to put the blame on his wife, saying that she was in charge of the family finances.Margaret Hunter, on the other hand, quickly admitted wrongdoing, cooperated with investigators and offered to testify against her husband, officials said.That difference, the authorities said, helps explain why the two received such different sentences after both pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to steal campaign funds. Mr. Hunter, who resigned from office, was sentenced in March to 11 months in federal prison.Ms. Hunter was sentenced on Monday to eight months of home confinement, the authorities said.“They both admitted to the exact same charge — conspiracy,” said W. Mark Conover, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. Ms. Hunter’s early acceptance of wrongdoing and cooperation with investigators, he said, “was very helpful.”“She received a reduced sentencing recommendation from us,” he said. He also noted that she was less culpable than her husband for the campaign expenditures, since it was Mr. Hunter who was the publicly elected official.Thomas W. McNamara, a lawyer representing Ms. Hunter, said the sentencing was “just,” considering the circumstances. “It takes into account not only Ms. Hunter’s conduct but the extraordinary and unusual cooperation she provided by agreeing to plead guilty and provide truthful information while still married and living with her husband and his parents in the in-laws’ home.”In a sentencing memo filed with the court, Mr. McNamara wrote, “Despite the awkwardness of these circumstances she continued to remain at her in-laws’ home for an additional two months after her guilty plea, when she was finally able to move out with her daughters at the end of the summer (just before her son was starting college)” and “thereby separate from her husband.”In announcing Ms. Hunter’s sentencing, federal prosecutors underscored the difference between her behavior and her husband’s.Devin Burstein, a lawyer for Mr. Hunter, said the difference in sentencing was due, in part, to his client’s urging for leniency for his family. “Congressman Hunter was the first to advocate publicly for leniency on behalf of his wife,” Mr. Burstein said in a statement. “As he told the court during his sentencing proceeding, any punishment in this case should be his alone because his wife and children had been through enough.”Mr. Hunter was first elected to Congress in 2008, succeeding his father, Duncan L. Hunter, a 14-term congressman who ran for the Republican presidential nomination that year. The career-ending scandal for Mr. Hunter began in 2016 and 2017 when The San Diego Union-Tribune detailed his campaign spending in a series of articles.Mr. Conover, one of the prosecutors, said the story caught the attention of federal authorities.In 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California released a 47-page indictment describing how the couple used campaign funds to live beyond their means, overdrawing their bank accounts more than 1,000 times.The indictment described a host of expenses unrelated to Mr. Hunter’s congressional campaign. There was $11,300 spent at Costco; $3,300 spent at In-N-Out Burger, Carl’s Jr., McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast food restaurants; more than $14,000 for a family trip to Italy for Thanksgiving; and $250 paid to United Airlines to “fly a family pet to Washington D.C., for a family vacation.”Mr. Hunter had sought to blame his wife for the corruption charges, saying in a 2018 Fox News interview that she was responsible for the couple’s finances. “Whatever she did, that will be looked at, too, I’m sure,” he said. “I didn’t do it. I didn’t spend any money illegally.”Even after Mr. Hunter was indicted, he won re-election in 2018. In December 2019, he pleaded guilty to the allegation that he misused campaign funds.Emily W. Allen, another assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, said, “There has been a lot of talk in this case about political motivation, but this case has never been about politics.”She added: “This is really a corruption case and this has always been driven by the facts. It’s refreshing to come to the end of this prosecution and find that all of that clutter has fallen away.” More

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