A conservative watchdog group is asking the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate whether a recent meeting between Democratic senators and the Hillary Clinton campaign violated congressional rules, the Washington Examiner reported on Monday.
According to the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and other Democrats may have broken the rules by discussing political campaign activities with Clinton staffers inside senate offices.
Two top Clinton aides, John Podesta and Amanda Renteria, attended the weekly Democratic Senate lunch on April 21, where they reportedly briefed the members on aspects of the campaign.
FACT executive director Matthew Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney, said political activity is prohibited in official senate offices under federal and Senate regulations.
"The taxpayers expect and deserve that senators will use taxpayer funded resources for Senate business, and abide by the law and rules requiring them to do so," Whitaker told the Examiner. "This type of obvious violation without any consequence is precisely what causes public distrust of political officials and damages the integrity of the Senate as a whole."
FACT submitted its investigation request last week. The group has previously filed complaints accusing the Clinton team of campaign finance violations, and asked the Federal Elections Commission last month to investigate whether the Democratic presidential candidate started campaigning before officially announcing her candidacy.