Clyburn Inc.: South Carolina Dem showers family members with over $200K from campaign funds

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FIRST ON FOX: House Majority Whip James Clyburn has showered numerous family members with more than $200,000 in campaign cash in recent years, a Fox News Digital review of campaign records found.

The South Carolina Democrat's campaign expenditures have made their way to five relatives, including two of his daughters, their husbands and a grandson, the records show. 

One family member benefiting from his campaign's operations is Jennifer Clyburn Reed, Rep. Clyburn's daughter, who has pocketed $45,000 for a "campaign management fee" between July and December 2020.

Jennifer has also taken in tens of thousands of dollars for "office rent." The rent checks, however, are not made out directly to her name but instead steered to a limited liability company she owns.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn has showered numerous family members with more than $200,000 in campaign cash in recent years. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Clyburn's campaign has dished out $62,500 in rent payments to a company called 49 Magnolia Blossom LLC since March 2020, federal records show. According to South Carolina business records, Jennifer Clyburn Reed's husband, Walter A Reed, is the registered agent of the limited liability company. 

The company's reported address is identical to Jennifer and Walter's former home address, which the pair purchased in February 2003 but appears to have sold in April 2021, according to Richland County property records.

A $650 payment for "office maintenance lighting" was also disbursed to Walter in May 2021, less than two weeks after the couple appeared to have sold their home. The couple's LLC received its most recent rent check from Rep. Clyburn's campaign for $7,500 in the first quarter of 2022. 

Rep. Clyburn's campaign records further show that Angela Hannibal, another one of his daughters, has raked in more than $20,000 for truck rentals, canvassing, voter outreach and catering between April 2018 and October 2019.

Angela's husband, Cecil Hannibal, has also pocketed nearly $70,000 from Rep. Clyburn's campaign committee for community and district outreach and travel reimbursements. 

ILHAN OMAR'S HUSBAND'S FIRM QUIETLY RAKING IN PAYMENTS AGAIN FROM COMMITTEE LINKED TO 'SQUAD' MEMBER

Clyburn, a top Democrat in Washington, was perhaps the most pivotal figure for President Biden's 2020 campaign. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Rep. Clyburn has also paid his grandson, Walter A.C. Reed, thousands of dollars per month for a "campaign management fee." Reed received six payments totaling $21,000 from his grandfather's campaign committee during the first quarter of 2022. His checks date back to October 2021 and top $35,000.

Rep. Clyburn, all told, has pushed more than $200,000 of his campaign funds to family members. Clyburn's campaign did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry on the payments. 

Clyburn, a top Democrat in Washington, was perhaps the most pivotal figure for President Biden's 2020 campaign. The influential South Carolina Democrat helped swing the 2020 Democratic primary in Biden's favor in the Palmetto State and set him on the path to the White House.

President Biden nominated Clyburn's daughter, Jennifer Clyburn Reed, a former teacher, as federal co-chair of the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission last year. In December, the Senate narrowly approved her for the position, which works to relieve economic hardship in the southeastern United States. 

Since entering Congress in 1993, Clyburn has not faced any legitimate threat to his House seat and has easily cruised through re-elections in South Carolina's 6th congressional district. 

MAXINE WATERS PAYS DAUGHTER ANOTHER $24,000 IN CAMPAIGN CASH, ADDING TO $1.2M IN PREVIOUS PAYMENTS

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) arrives for a House Democratic Caucus meeting to choose leaders for the 116th Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 28, 2018.  (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

Both Democrats and Republicans have paid relatives with campaign contributions over the years. While it's legal for federal lawmakers to employ family members on campaigns, the practice is generally frowned upon by ethics experts. 

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Fox News Digital reported last week that Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., paid her daughter another $24,000 during the first quarter of 2022, adding to more than $1.2 million that the Waters campaign has paid Karen Waters for "slate mailer management" fees and "campaign managing services."

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is another Democrat who has used her campaign funds to shower a relative with cash. Omar's campaign dished out nearly $3 million to her husband Tim Mynett's political consulting firm, the E Street Group, over several years. While Omar's campaign ceased paying her husband's consulting firm in November 2020, Fox News Digital reported last week that  the E Street Group received its first federal committee payment in more than a year, which was sent from a committee linked to Omar.