(RepublicanNews.org) – On the first day of launching his Senate campaign, California Democrat Adam Schiff is facing an ethics complaint related to his use of video from the Senate floor in which he advocated for former President Donald Trump’s impeachment.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) sent the complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics and asked the Office to determine if Schiff broke ethics rules.
FACT believes he did. The organization said ethics rules and the law, binding on House members (Schiff currently represents California’s 30th district), bar them from using any materials, including video or audio, paid for by taxpayers in any political campaigns.
Some members of the media speculated that Schiff found a way to adhere to the letter, if not the spirit, of the law. By using video footage from the press (that is, not paid for by tax dollars), they said, Schiff may have found a strictly legal way to get around the rules.
FACT disagrees, citing a 2017 House Ethics Committee report that appears to say that the law also bars elected officials from using “third-party” images or video of floor proceedings if those images would have been otherwise prohibited from being reused by lawmakers.
Schiff’s camp responded by saying the congressman did not violate ethics rules or laws because the video he used showed him speaking on the Senate floor, not the House floor. The Schiff campaign contends that House ethics rules apply only to footage or images of representatives on the House floor, not the Senate floor.
Therefore, said the Schiff campaign, their candidate was “fully in compliance with House ethics guidelines.”
The eventful week for Representative Schiff included another setback after newly chosen House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) kicked Schiff and fellow Democrat Eric Swalwell (D-CA) off the House Intelligence Committee.
Schiff hopes to gain Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein’s coveted Senate seat in the 2024 elections. Though Feinstein may run again, her age at 89 has prompted speculation that she may retire.
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