SAN DIEGO _ U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican and former U.S. Marine, admitted his guilt Tuesday in a yearslong campaign finance scandal and now awaits his sentence.
Hunter, who with his father served East San Diego County in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly four decades, all but ended his political career during a brief hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan, pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to convert campaign funds to personal use. He said only one word to the judge, "Guilty."
Sentencing was set for March 17.
Details of the plea agreement were not immediately released, although Hunter himself indicated in a television interview Monday that he expected to serve prison time and that he would leave Congress.
He will likely face up to five years in prison when he is sentenced March 17, but he may receive much less time behind bars.
According to portions of the agreement read in court, the congressman admitted to a single count of conspiracy.
More specifically, he confessed to knowingly and willfully converting campaign funds to personal use in amounts greater than $25,000 or more during a calendar year. The admission of $25,000 or more is significant because it exposes the defendant to a longer prison term.
The agreement also stipulates that Hunter began using campaign funds improperly "no later than 2010," meaning barely a year after he arrived in Congress. The criminality continued until at least 2016, it adds.
Also, "there was an agreement between Hunter and Margaret Hunter" to misuse campaign funds, the agreement said.
In the deal with prosecutors, Hunter admitted that in August 2011 he spent $511 in campaign funds at the Hotel Del Coronado "to take his wife and children out for a family celebration for his daughter's birthday."
"To conceal and disguise these personal charges, (Hunter) falsely informed his treasurer that all the charges were 'campaign related,'" according to the agreement.
Hunter, who was accompanied to court by his father, also admitted to a second overt act: spending $409 in campaign funds at a French bistro in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2016, for a social outing with friends.
The admission represents a stunning turnaround from August 2018, when Hunter answered his 60-count indictment by claiming that federal prosecutors were out to get him for being one of the earliest supporters of President Donald Trump.
He also repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed for years that media reports about his questionable campaign spending were "fake news."
Hunter, 42, was first elected to Congress in 2008. He succeeded his father, also named Duncan Hunter, who won an upstart campaign during the so-called Reagan Revolution of 1980 and served 28 years in the lower house.
The younger Hunter was indicted 16 months ago along with his wife of 21 years, Margaret Hunter.
The couple were accused in a sweeping indictment of using more than $250,000 in political contributions to pay personal expenses, including private-school tuition for their children, fast food, home repairs and even $600 in airfare for the family pet rabbit, Eggburt.
Duncan Hunter also was accused of using campaign funds to pay for a series of extramarital affairs he had with five women, including three lobbyists and two congressional staffers. Among other things, he used political contributions to pay for cocktails, resort stays, Uber rides and lavish meals, according to prosecutors.
Hunter was returned to Congress by a majority of voters in November 2018 despite the criminal charges leveled against him three months earlier.
He insisted he was running for a seventh term even as he challenged the charges, although three prominent Republicans joined the 2020 race for the 50th District seat in case Hunter was convicted or pleaded guilty.
Former Rep. Darrell Issa, state Sen. Brian Jones and former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio are the top Republican rivals to Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who came within a handful of percentage points of defeating Hunter last year and is running again.
Margaret Hunter, who was paid $3,000 a month to serve as her husband's campaign manager, changed her plea in June. She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and agreed to become a cooperating witness against the congressman.
Her sentencing was pushed back as Duncan Hunter appealed his prosecution to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a legal maneuver that twice delayed his trial. Margaret Hunter also faces up to five years in prison when she is sentenced in February.
The congressman insisted for months that he did nothing improper and instead was being victimized by Hillary Clinton-supporting federal prosecutors who were part of a "deep state" conspiracy to deny him his seat in Congress.
He spent more than $800,000 on defense attorneys and appealed his case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals even before his trial was scheduled to begin last September.
The 2018 indictment upended the dynasty the Hunter family had created over the past several decades. Loyal supporters rallied to defend the Marine reservist and congressman, as others second-guessed whether he had lost his way in the nation's capital.
Several national media organizations published stories alleging Hunter was a member of the so-called "bro caucus" that was notorious for drinking and late-night carousing. Hunter also was infamously videotaped vaping during a congressional hearing.
The escalating media attention helped create a circuslike atmosphere outside the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego at nearly every court appearance the two Hunters made.
Some demonstrators crafted signs urging Hunter to resign; others offered support and criticized the prosecution as unfair. Hunter never personally addressed the throngs of people outside the court, although his father answered questions and defended his son following some prior appearances.
The hearing Tuesday attracted scores of people, many of whom jeered the congressman as he made his way inside the building. One person wore a bunny outfit, an apparent reference to the family rabbit who was flown across the country with campaign funds.
