Rep. Duncan Hunter's lawyer wants to move the Alpine congressman's trial outside San Diego County, arguing his client won't get a fair trial in the Southern District of California because of continuing coverage that includes The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board's call for him to resign.
In response, we renew our call for him to resign.
In May 2018, we endorsed anyone but Hunter in his re-election campaign after he had blamed his campaign finance scandal on the Union-Tribune; "somewhat biased" U.S. Justice Department officials, who work for the Trump administration; and his wife, Margaret Hunter. In August, we called on him to resign when a scathing indictment outlined the scope of his alleged misdeeds in great detail, and two weeks ago, we reiterated our call for him to resign and look to rebuild his life _ after his wife pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy that named her husband as a co-conspirator, and agreed to testify to state and federal grand juries about the case.
We did not reach our view lightly. This week, confronted with a searing court filing outlining a series of extramarital affairs and accusations he paid for some of them with campaign funds, Hunter sought to have his charges dropped or prosecutors removed from the case. His trial is set to begin in September, but it is beyond time for him to resign. No matter where the trial is held, he is delaying the inevitable.
