Free Republic

The House Ethics Committee announced Wednesday that it will extend its inquiry into Rep. John Conyers's (D., Mich.) payments to his former chief of staff. The committee said it needed more time to review a report by the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Associated Press reports. The report suggests that there is "substantial reason" to believe that Conyers paid his chief of staff, Cynthia Martin, for work she did not perform. In April of 2016, Conyers claimed to have placed Martin on unpaid leave, after she pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property. However, the ethics office said that she was...

The House Ethics Committee said Monday it is reviewing charges lodged against two high-profile Democratic lawmakers and a senior Democratic aide. The lawmakers facing an ethics review are Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and the longest-serving sitting House member, and Rep. Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The staffer is Michael E. Collins, chief of staff to Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).Statements released Monday by the Ethics Committee did not detail the allegations against the three men, which were forwarded to the committee by the independent Office of Congressional...