A watchdog group wants the Senate Ethics Committee to “immediately open an investigation” into Democrat senators who took campaign cash from President Joe Biden’s pending Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nominee, Gigi Sohn.
American Accountability Foundation sent a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee requesting an investigation into Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), John Fetterman (D-PA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Michael Bennet (D-CO) to make sure there is no “quid pro quo” with Gigi Sohn, who was tapped in January by President Joe Biden to serve on the FCC.
President Joe Biden speaks with Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, after stepping off Air Force One, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022, at the 171st Air Refueling Wing at Pittsburgh International Airport in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
“An investigation, and appropriate sanction, is required because the Senators accepted campaign contributions from Ms. Gigi Sohn, a pending nominee for the Federal Communications Commission, on whom they will have to vote,” the letter from the group’s president, Thomas Jones, stated. “Their acceptance of campaign contributions casts doubts on the impartiality of their actions and brings discredit and dishonor on the body.”
Democratic candidate for Senate Raphael Warnock (L) and President-elect Joe Biden (R) bump elbows on stage during a rally outside Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 4, 2021. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
According to the Washington Examiner, which first reported on the letter, Sohn donated $550 to Warnock and $100 to both Cortez Masto and Fetterman. The report also noted that she donated $200 to Bennett as well as $2,900 between April and October 2020 to Biden’s presidential campaign.
The American Accountability Foundation letter explained that the Senate Ethics Manual states that the Ethics Committee is there to “receive complaints and investigate allegations of improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate,” which should include senators accepting campaign contributions from a nominee who they will eventually vote for.
The letter also explained that a poll from the Associated Press found that over 80 percent of the public says “campaign contributions directly influence the decisions of elected officials,” including half that said the “influence is large.”
As Breitbart News has reported, President Joe Biden renominated Sohn at the beginning of the year after Senate Democrats failed to secure a majority to confirm her as a commissioner. If Sohn — who has a history of praising anti-police rhetoric — is confirmed to the FCC, she would give the agency a Democrat majority, allowing them to pursue net neutrality regulations and other leftist priorities.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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