Rep. Schweikert Must Pay $50,000 After Admitting to 11 Ethics Violations

A spokesperson for the congressman said he has no plans to resign. 

A multi-year ethics investigation into Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona concluded this week, after Schweikert admitted to 11 violations and agreed to pay a $50,000 fine. 

The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday they had found “substantial reason” to believe that Schweikert had misused money meant to be spent on operating his office, pressured staff to do campaign work for him, and not been upfront when asked questions about his actions during the investigation, among other misdeeds. 

A spokesperson for the congressman said he has no plans to resign. 

“We are pleased the Committee has issued their report and we can move forward from this chapter,” a statement from his office read. “As noted in the review, all issues have been resolved and Congressman Schweikert will continue working hard for Arizona’s 6^th District.”

The committee first began the probe in June 2018 to investigate Schweikert and his chief of staff Oliver Schwab. 

Schwab resigned the following month after serving the congressman for seven years. 

The House Ethics Committee then expanded the probe in December of that year after suspecting there were more violations than they had originally thought. 

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Dr. Hiral Tipirneni, a Democrat who will be challenging Schweikert this fall if she wins next week’s primary, denounced the congressman’s actions. 

“Rep. Schweikert has violated his oath, abused his power, lied and misled, and betrayed the public trust with his admission of breaking federal law and ethics rules,” Tipirneni said in a statement. “In using his taxpayer-funded Congressional office in service of himself instead of our district, he has put his own interests above those of his constituents time and time again.” 

So far, Tipirneni has out-fundraised the five-term Republican by over $1 million in cash on hand.  

Anita Malik, a Democrat challenging Tipirneni in the primary, called for Schweikert to resign. 

“He lied to his constituents for over two years and he is not fit to represent us. He failed to cooperate with the investigation, drawing it out and wasting House resources, taxpayer dollars. He is now being allowed to buy himself out of trouble,” Malik said in a statement. “We must demand his immediate resignation. If he doesn’t resign, we will ensure he is voted out in November.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.