Rantz: Seattle Congresswoman Jayapal faces ethics complaint

Progressive Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Seattle) faces an ethics complaint according to an exclusive report from FOX News. Two other Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee were also hit with complaints.

Americans for Public Trust is a nonprofit watchdog group, founded by a former researcher with the National Republican Congressional Committee. They filed the complaints with the Office of Congressional Ethics. They claim Jayapal and her colleagues “engaged in disturbing activities that appear to us to be violations of federal law and House rules.”

The complaint

FOX News reporter Ronn Blitzer reports the OCE complaint stems from Tweets by Rep. Jayapal. In the Tweet, they say she solicited campaign contributions in order to maintain “momentum” for a Medicare-for-all bill she sponsored.

This appears to be one of the Tweets in question:

Today is a historic day for health care in America with the first ever hearing for #MedicareForAll! Tune into CSPAN-1 NOW to watch the testimony!

And if you believe that health care is a human right, pitch in $5 today to keep this momentum going strong!>> https://t.co/mts4LbBqqq

— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) April 30, 2019

Citing the complaint, Blitzer notes there’s a rule barring congresspeople “from soliciting campaign or political contributions that are ‘linked with an official action taken or to be taken by a House member.'”

According to Blitzer, the complaint also alleges the congresswoman violated a rule against the use of “broadcast coverage of official House business for political purposes.” KTTH has not seen the complaint.

Rep. Jayapal and her staff did not respond to a request for comment.

Reps. Madeleine Dean and Lucy McBath are the other congresswomen facing complaints.

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