Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) speaks to the crowd during a rally for his unsuccessful bid to be Georgia’s secretary of state as former President Donald Trump watches in September 2021 in Perry, Georgia.. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
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A congressman used campaign funds in an attempt to stymie an investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) was among the lawmakers at the White House for a December 2020 strategy meeting about subverting the results of the presidential election, according to testimony former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson gave to the House Jan. 6 Committee. And when Congress reconvened following the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Hice objected to counting Georgia’s electoral votes, claiming, without providing any evidence, that Joe Biden’s win in the state was faulty due to “an unprecedented amount of fraud and irregularities.”
As part of her inquiry into the former president’s role in the scheme for him to remain in office, Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis (D) subpoenaed Hice in June, seeking his testimony before a grand jury. The day before his deadline to appear, Hice filed a motion to quash the subpoena. An attorney from the Austin, Texas-based law firm the Gober Group represented Hice in court. On July 25, a district court judge rejected Hice’s challenge.
On Aug. 1, Hice’s campaign paid the Gober Group $46,000 for legal fees, according to a filing the campaign made to the Federal Election Commission in mid-October. A spokesperson confirmed that the funds were used to fight the subpoena.
“The FEC has said on multiple occasions that campaign funds may be used to pay for up to 100% of legal expenses related to campaign and officeholder activity, where such expenses would not have occurred had the individual not been a candidate or officeholder,” Hice’s spokesperson said in a statement. “Congressman Hice was subpoenaed because of his efforts to prevent certification of the 2020 election, which was clearly within his duties as a member of Congress.”
An advisory opinion the FEC issued in 1998 stated that, while the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 bars candidates from using campaign funds for personal use, “any legal expense that relates directly to allegations arising from campaign or officeholder activity would qualify for 100% payment with campaign funds.”
Hice will leave Congress at the end of this term after making an unsuccessful, Trump-endorsed run to be Georgia’s secretary of state.
The campaign for Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) paid $46,000 to the law firm that represented him in his unsuccessful bid to quash a subpoena to testify before a grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Federal Election Commission/Jody Hice for Congress, Inc.
