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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News on Friday that his investigators have already uncovered evidence of "abuse" in the U.S. government's surveillance practices. “I believe there's evidence that abuses have occurred," Nunes said in his first interview since the House Ethics Committee dismissed allegations he had wrongly released classified information as part of the panel’s Russia investigation. "We have had an ongoing investigation into DOJ [Department of Justice] and FBI since mid-summer for both FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] abuse and other matters that we can't get into too much. But it is very concerning." Nunes...

The wife of disgraced former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham felt deceived about the extent of her now-estranged husband's corruption, she said in her first public interview since the scandal broke last year. Nancy Cunningham told The New Republic magazine that she didn't question junkets paid by defense contractors because other senior congressional figures, including Speaker Dennis Hastert, joined in. "How can it be illegal or unethical if the most important man in Congress is doing it?" she asked interviewer Kitty Kelley, the celebrity biographer. Duke Cunningham, who held seats on powerful House intelligence and appropriations committees, resigned from Congress last...

Today the House Ethics Committee announced that it was taking no action against Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) who secretly took a $40,000 payment from an individual who subsequently pled guilty in a multi-million-dollar mortgage scam. In 2007, Meeks received $40,000 from a "businessman," Edul Ahmad. Under the Ethics in Government Act, Congressmen are required to disclose such financial transactions on their annual Financial Disclosure Reports. Meeks failed to disclose the transaction on his reports for 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the New York Daily News reported, "Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks made no payments for three years on a...

Yesterday, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison for, among other things, attempting to "sell" the US Senate seat that was once held by President Barack Obama. Blagojevich's punishment comes on the heels of the U.S. House Ethics Committee's decision to continue its investigation into Congressman Jesse Jackson's role in the same scheme. On December 2, the House Ethics Committee announced that it was continuing its investigation of Jackson for his alleged public campaign to "buy" the Senate seat in question. It is alleged by investigators that Jackson may have made unlawful use of...

Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post writes today that the House Ethics Committee is planning to spend $500,000 for an investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and the Committee's own staff.Last month, the Committee announced the hiring of Billy Martin to review the actions of the Committee's staff that were cited as a reason to push the Waters trial beyond last November's elections. Martin would then proceed to investigate the Waters matter if he determines that the staff's previous conduct was not sufficiently prejudicial to dismiss the case, as she has requested.As Leonnig reports: Ethics watchdogs from both ends...

Just one day after learning that he will face a House Ethics Committee trial on multiple ethics allegations, it looks like Rep. Charlie Rangel is starting to turn toxic for fellow Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer -- who've been among Rangel's staunchest defenders during the committee's two-year probe -- issued terse statements conspicuously lacking in political support. "The independent, bipartisan Ethics Committee is moving forward," said Pelosi through a spokesman. Added Hoyer -- as he dodged questions about the scandal's impact on congressional elections: "The ethics process is working." And two of New York's leading...

A bill in Congress, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Greg Meeks (D-Jamaica), would restrain the very ethics panel that may be charged with investigating an alleged sweetheart deal for Meeks' Jamaica home. U.S. Rep. Greg Meeks is co-sponsoring a bill that would limit an ethics agency’s ability to publicize its investigations. In March, the National Legal and Policy Center issued a complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics alleging that in 2006 Meeks got a sweetheart deal from the Dennis Organization for his newly-built mansion, paying $830,000 in October 2006 for a home that a year later was valued at $1.23...

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have asked the House to curtail the power of a congressional ethics board, after multiple members of the caucus have come under investigation by the board over the past year. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH) introduced legislation at the end of May, which was co-sponsored by 19 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The bill would restrict the Office of Congressional Ethics -- which is a bipartisan board staffed solely with private citizens -- from releasing the results of its investigations in cases that the House Ethics Committee decides have no merit. The OCE...

Just when you think that the House Ethics Committee might actually be doing its job in the form of the Rangel admonition, it reverts to form on the investigation of the now-defunct lobbying firm PMA that was headed by Paul Magliocchetti. Indeed, PMA may be the biggest cover-up in the history of the Ethics Committee, which today issued a report clearing the late Rep. John Murtha and Reps. Jim Moran (D-VA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Norm Dicks (D-WA) and Bill Young (R-FL).This action was certainly calculated by Nancy Pelosi to protect the late Murtha. It is the strongest evidence to date...

Harlem Congressman Gave Campaign Contributions To 3 Dems On Ethics Committee Charged With Investigating Him