By Deirdre Walsh
CNN Senior Congressional Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former GOP 2012 presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign is under investigation by an independent ethics panel on Capitol Hill, according to a statement from an attorney representing Bachmann.
William McGinley, a partner at Patton Boggs, a Washington law firm, released a statement to CNN on Monday confirming a story that first appeared in the Daily Beast that the Office of Congressional Ethics is looking into the Minnesota congresswoman’s presidential campaign.
But McGinley insists Bachmann did nothing wrong.
“There are no allegations that the congresswoman engaged in any wrongdoing. We are constructively engaged with the OCE and are confident that at the end of their Review the OCE Board will conclude that Congresswoman Bachmann did not do anything inappropriate,” McGinley said in a written statement to CNN.
According to the Daily Beast, several former Bachmann campaign workers are being interviewed about the potential improper transfer of campaign funds. One of those quoted in the article, Peter Waldron, is a former campaign aide who filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Bachmann’s illegally used money from her political action committee to pay a campaign consultant.
The Office of Congressional Ethics is a separate entity set up in 2008 as a nonpartisan panel to screen potential instances of misconduct by members of the House of Representatives. If OCE decides a matter warrants additional review if can refer it to the House Ethics Committee, which determines whether an official investigation will be launched.
As is the custom, the Office of Congressional Ethics declined to comment on whether it was reviewing any alleged impropriety by Bachmann.
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