In addition to the other corrupt dealings that forced his resignation from Congress, former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham used his position on the House Intelligence Committee to steer more than $70 million in government funds to companies run by business cronies, according to a new report by the House panel.
The report is the culmination of an internal probe launched last year after Cunningham (R-Calif.) pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes.
The full text of the report remains classified, but a five-page summary was released Tuesday by California Rep. Jane Harman, the committee’s top Democrat, who has repeatedly voiced frustration with the refusal of the panel’s Republicans to make the findings public.
Harman said she gave committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) “every opportunity” to issue a joint statement about the report. She rejected suggestions that the summary was timed for political effect.
“The right time to have put this out was when it was completed, in late July,” Harman said.
Hoekstra described the decision to release the summary as “disturbing and beyond the pale.” He said the document was an “interim, internal report.”
The investigation found no evidence of criminal activity by other lawmakers or committee aides, according to the report. It describes a permissive environment in which staffers ignored or failed to act on “red flags” surrounding Cunningham’s unusual funding requests.
According to the investigation, Cunningham repeatedly pressured aides to insert special funding provisions, known as “earmarks,” designed to enrich business officials who were paying the lawmaker millions of dollars in bribes.
Over a five-year period, the report said, Cunningham inserted language into spending bills adopted by the intelligence panel that provided “approximately $70 [million]-$80 million in funding” for those companies. The committee oversees about $40 billion in spending on U.S. spy agencies. Most of the earmarks went to companies run by businessman Brent Wilkes of California and his former associate, Mitchell Wade, in Washington. Wilkes remains under investigation, and Wade pleaded guilty in February to charges.
