Embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., insisted Thursday night he is innocent of the campaign finance violations he was charged with, saying the case is a Democratic setup.
"I didn't do it," Hunter told Fox News' "The Story."
Hunter and his wife Margaret pleaded not guilty in a San Diego court Thursday on charges that they used money in his campaign account for personal purchases to the tune of more than $250,000.
Hunter admitted to Fox News his campaign "made mistakes," but he paid back the money he said was improperly spent.
"There was money spent on things, not by me but by the campaign, and I paid that back before my last election," Hunter said. "I paid back $60,000 after I did an objective audit."
Hunter noted the whole thing smells of a political hit job.
"This is pure politics, and the prosecutors can make an indictment read like a scandalous novel if they want to," said Hunter, who is running for re-election this fall. "They've had a year and a half to do this. . . . This is a late hit, and my prosecutor and the acting U.S. attorney that issued the court orders to search my house and my office, they just attended a Hillary Clinton fundraiser with another U.S. attorney out here in San Diego."
An indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges the couple used campaign money to finance family trips to Italy and Hawaii, golf outings, school tuition, theater tickets, and even fast food purchases, and then attempted to conceal the illegal spending in federal records.
The indictment alleges the couple dipped into campaign cash for years to bankroll their lifestyle, while their household budget was awash in red ink. The spending ranged from the banal to the lavish, from movie tickets to a $6,288.74 family vacation at a resort in Hawaii.
"The Hunters spent substantially more than they earned," the indictment said. "They overdrew their bank account more than 1,100 times in a seven-year period resulting in approximately $37,761 in 'overdraft' and 'insufficient funds' bank fees."
Content from The Associated Press was used in this report.