House Ethics Committee orders Tlaib to repay $10,800 to campaign after 2018 violation

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib has been ordered to repay $10,800 to her campaign committee to account for the salary she had paid herself from her campaign coffers after she had been elected to Congress in 2018.

The bipartisan House Ethics Committee found the Michigan Democrat’s violation “was one of bad timing and not ill intent." The committee ordered her to pay $10,800 of the $17,500 she received from her campaign in 2018. Congressional candidates are allowed to draw paychecks from their campaigns, but payments are only allowed during an active candidacy.

"The committee did not find that she sought to unjustly enrich herself by receiving the campaign funds at issue," the committee wrote Friday. “Indeed, during her campaign, Representative Tlaib received a conservative amount of campaign funds, well below the legal threshold for the maximum amount of salary she was eligible to receive; these payments allowed her to forego her salary from her full-time employment so that she could fully participate in campaign activities.”

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“However, because she received some of those funds, totaling $10,800, for time periods in which she was no longer a congressional candidate, those funds were inconsistent with [the campaign law's] personal use restrictions,” the committee continued.

The committee said it had reviewed more than 600 pages of documents and interviewed five witnesses to determine the nature of the payments that occurred between Nov. 16  and Dec. 1, 2018.

The committee decided unanimously to release the report but determined no further action was necessary.

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This week Tlaib won a competitive primary in Detroit against  Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones. With 90 percent of the precincts reporting on Wednesday, Tlaib led 66 percent to Jones' 34 percent, according to the Wayne County Clerk's Office.

Tlaib, one of four members of the freshman "squad," declared that the progressive wing of her party was “only getting bigger.”

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"Let it be known that in the 13th District, just like in communities across our country, we are done with establishment politics that put corporations first," Tlaib said in a victory statement. "If I was considered the most vulnerable member of the Squad, I think it’s safe to say the Squad is here to stay, and it’s only getting bigger."

Tlaib's office did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.