WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee announced U.S. Representative Mike Kelly and three other lawmakers are currently under investigation.
According to information released by Roll Call, the House Ethics Committee is investigating Republicans Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota and Alex X. Mooney of West Virginia and Democrat Tom Malinowski of New Jersey.
The cases were initially investigated by the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), a fact-finding office that cannot discipline members or issue subpoenas. After the OCE found “substantial reason to believe that a violation had occurred” in each of the cases, the House Ethics Committee took over the investigations.
In the case of the Kelly investigation, questions were initially raised following a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article regarding investments made by Kelly’s wife in the steel industry during a time that Kelly was pushing for an investigation into foreign steel imports.
The Post-Gazette reported that just days before the Department of Commerce announced an investigation into foreign steel imports, which Kelly had been pushing the Trump administration to launch, Kelly’s wife bought stock in Cleveland-Cliffs, a Pennsylvania steel company that was threatened by the same imports the Commerce Department was investigating.
The stock then trended upward significantly following the investigation announcement, leaving many with questions about whether or not Kelly’s wife, Victoria Kelly, gained personally from his actions in public office, which would fall under improper use of an official position for personal gain under the U.S. House code and ethics manual.
According to a Statement from the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics, the Committee will announce its course of action in this matter on or before Thursday, October 21, 2021.
The other investigations are looking at “questionable spending” by Hagedorn’s office, Mooney’s campaign fund expenditures, and Malinowski’s alleged failure to disclose stock trades.
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