The Indiana Republican Party has filed an ethics complaint against Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly regarding television footage of his appearance U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
State Republican Party Chairman Kyle Hupfer says Donnelly “directed his official taxpayer-funded staff to film his meeting with Judge Brett Kavanaugh and then to post video, with no audio, on their official YouTube page so his campaign and outside entities could use the footage.”
It is against Senate rules to use official resources for campaign activities.
“Today, I am filing a formal complaint with the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Ethics Committee requesting they look into this matter,” Hupfer said. “In the meantime, I am calling on Senator Joe Donnelly to immediately take down the footage and issue a public apology to Hoosiers for using our hard earned tax dollars for such blatant political purposes.”
A spokesman for Donnelly dismissed the GOP complaint and directed attention towards Republican Mike Braun. “This nakedly political stunt is just the latest bald-faced lie from Rep. Braun’s campaign. The fact of the matter is that Donnelly for Indiana has no intention of using that footage in an ad — but more importantly, even if the campaign or any outside group wanted to use this footage, it would be illegal,” He said. “Rep. Braun and his campaign are doing a disservice to Hoosiers by selfishly politicizing the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice because they can’t stand that Joe is dutifully doing his job while Rep. Braun complains from the sidelines.”
