Prosecutorial Misconduct, Clinton Connection in Duncan Hunter Case

It looked like a classic Justice Department squeeze play: pile a boatload of corruption charges on then-Representative Duncan Hunter, Republican of California, drag in his family, and plead it down to a single count and a resignation. But Hunter fought back. And now Judicial Watch has uncovered new evidence supporting allegations of misconduct by prosecutors in the case allied with Hillary Clinton.

Hunter and his wife were indicted in August 2018 on dozens of corruption charges related to misuse of campaign funds. Later, in separate court actions, they each pleaded guilty to a single charge. Hunter resigned from Congress in January.

In a June 2017 motion to dismiss, Hunter’s attorneys noted that the two lead Justice Department lawyers on the case, Alana Robinson and Emily Allen, had attended a 2015 political fundraiser for then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the La Jolla mansion of a wealthy supporter. Hunter was a vocal critic of Mrs. Clinton and an early supporter of Donald Trump.

“In light of subsequent events and their initiation of the criminal investigation of Congressman Hunter,” Hunter’s lawyers wrote, the attendance at the fundraiser by the two prosecutors “raises serious concerns regarding a conflict of interest and a loss of impartiality.” Both prosecutors are registered Democrats. “The undeniable facts are that both attended [the fundraiser] for one purpose and one purpose only—they attended to meet the person they believed would be the next President of the United States.”

The Justice Department responded with a mystifying claim...