Congressman Steve King filed an ethics complaint against GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy. King is requesting an investigation into “the overtly concerted” effort to deprive the Congressman and the constituents of the Fourth Congressional District of Iowa of equal representative in the House.
King’s press release said that King did not violate U.S. law, the Code of Official Conduct or congressional precedent, yet was removed from his committee assignments “without even the feigned consideration of due process.”
“Shortly before the release of the January 2019 New York Times hit piece on me, which was instantaneously used to justify the actions taken by the Republican Steering Committee, under the leadership of Minority Leader McCarthy, I was given a heads up by a trusted friend and professional connection that, having failed to defeat me in the recently passed November 2018 general election, my opponents were ready to take another shot, even before the new Congress assembled and nearly two years in advance of the 2020 election cycle,” King’s letter says.
The press release adds that the Constitution does not allow the people’s House to be used as a “cover for party machines and bosses.”
“Using power and position to manufacture and perpetrate dishonest political narratives, complete with distortions and outright lies camouflaged as facts under the cover of official congressional business, is a gross and repugnant violation of the American people who are the very constituent parts of this government,” King’s release says.
King’s complaint is 23 pages long.
“Both the law of our nation and this body, as well as the facts, testify in my defense,” King wrote in his complaint. “I have broken no law, nor have I run afoul of the ethics of this body. In fact, those that know me well, and even those who only know me only in passing, commonly testify that my entire life has been in commitment to my faith, family, business and upholding the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.”
