Senate committee dismisses ethics complaint against Gallego
· UPIJune 29 (UPI) -- A Senate ethics panel has dismissed misconduct allegations against Sen. Ruben Gallego after an investigation, the Arizona Democrat's office said Monday.
The six-person, bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee sent Gallego a letter dated June 26 (obtained by NBC News) in which members said they found no evidence that his actions "violated federal law, Senate rules or related standards of conduct."
The letter said the complaint, filed by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., alleged "campaign finance violations and inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature."
"The dismissal by the Ethics Committee reaffirms what I have said about these accusations from the beginning: they were right-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists like Anna Paulina Luna, the White House and their allies," Gallego said in a statement Monday, Axios reported.
In the letter, the committee said it appreciated Gallego's "full cooperation" with the investigation.
Luna made the allegations after reports that then-Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., harassed and sexually assaulted multiple women, NBC News reported. Swalwell resigned from Congress in April. Gallego has said he was friends with Swalwell but denied any personal misconduct and said he didn't know about Swalwell's alleged actions.
On April 23, Luna wrote in a social media post that she had "heard of four women who have had multiple and uncomfortable/inappropriate advances/comments/touching, etc. from Senator Gallego."
In his statement, Gallego also said he looked forward to an apology from Luna "for weaponizing the ethics process while refusing to investigate historic corruption that's making life harder for families."
Politico reported earlier in June that Gallego used campaign donations to pay for trips with his wife and childcare expenses. Gallego did not dispute those reports.
"With the rising costs of childcare and the burden it has on the budgets of American families, Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the White House alike regularly travel with their wives and children, as is permitted by the FEC," he told Politico.
The panel noted that it "retains the authority to revisit this matter should additional facts become known" to it.
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