Trump Pardons Estranged Wife Of Ex San Diego Rep. Duncan Hunter

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — One day after pardoning former San Diego-area Rep. Duncan Hunter, who admitted misusing campaign funds for personal use, President Donald Trump Wednesday also granted a full pardon to Hunter's estranged wife, Margaret, who pleaded guilty to the same crime and was sentenced to eight months home confinement and three years probation.

Margaret Hunter, who also served as her husband's campaign manager, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced in August.

Trump offered much the same reasoning for pardoning Margaret Hunter as he did for pardoning the former congressman, saying the case "should have been treated a civil case" by the Federal Election Commission, not a federal prosecution.

Like the former congressman, Margaret Hunter, who recently filed for divorce from her husband, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds, admitting using more than $150,000 in campaign money for personal expenses, including family vacations, restaurant and bar tabs and clothing, while falsely claiming the purchases were campaign-related.

Her husband received a harsher sentence of 11 months in federal prison. He was set to begin serving that sentence in January, but Trump awarded him a full pardon on Tuesday.

Duncan Hunter, a Republican who represented California's 52nd congressional district from 2009-13 and 50th congressional district from 2013-20 had planned to seek another term but resigned from Congress in January following his guilty plea.

He repeatedly and publicly denied wrongdoing and accused the U.S. Attorney's Office of a politically motivated prosecution. He maintained that two prosecutors on the case attended a La Jolla campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2015, then indicted him two months before the 2018 election due to his public endorsement of Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

Amid the charges and public allegations, Hunter was re-elected in November 2018 with 51.7 percent of the vote, despite being indicted three months prior. He was first elected in 2008, succeeding his father, who held the congressional seat for 28 years.

Prosecutors argued in court papers that the Hunters were "virtually penniless" and amid dire financial straits, resorted to using campaign credit cards to support "a profligate lifestyle leading to continual debt and an ever-increasing need to find cash to pay bills."

Despite the family bank account not carrying a positive balance throughout any single month between 2009 and 2017, prosecutors said the family lived extravagantly, racking up thousands on expensive family trips and scores of other improper personal purchases, according to the memorandum.

It was also alleged that Duncan Hunter used campaign funds to pursue extramarital affairs and repeatedly used campaign credit cards or sought reimbursement for expenses that included resort hotel rooms, airfare, a skiing trip and Uber rides to and from the homes of five women with whom he had "intimate relationships."

He also gave his wife a campaign credit card despite her having no official role in the campaign, until he later hired her as campaign manager amid protests from members of his staff, according to the prosecution's court filings.

His defense attorney, Paul Pfingst, urged U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan to be lenient on Hunter, noting his service in the Marines, as well his contributions in Congress, arguing that "on balance, Duncan Hunter has contributed much to his country, his constituents and his children."

The White House also cited Hunter's military service in announcing the pardon, noting that Hunter "has dedicated much of his adult life to public service" and was inspired to enlist in the Marines following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, serving combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

—City News Service