Indicted congressman and vape enthusiast Duncan Hunter (R-CA) posted a video on Twitter of himself pretending to crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona to show how easy it is. He then got called out for violating his parole, the Times of San Diego reported.
Hunter — previously best known for smoking his vape pen in the House chamber — was indicted last year for using campaign funds for personal expenses. As part of his release on bail, Hunter and his wife are not allowed to leave the continental United States or go to Mexico.
Hunter posted a video Thursday that was taken during a ride along with border patrol agents in Arizona. He claims in the video that he’s 15 meters away from Mexico (he’s not, according to the Times of San Diego) and that a waist-high vehicle barrier was the only hurdle between Mexico and the U.S. (it’s not).
“It looks pretty tough to cross. Let me see if I can do it,” he said as he climbed over the horizontal rail, swings his legs around and jumps down on the other side, claiming to have crossed the border. A border patrol spokesperson told the San Diego newspaper that the actual border is 75 to 100 feet away from that spot.
Late night ride-along with U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, AZ. pic.twitter.com/azbsFCKvaV
— Rep. Duncan Hunter (@Rep_Hunter) April 18, 2019
Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat who is plans to challenge Hunter for a second time when he’s up for reelection, tipped off the local newspaper to the development, suggesting that if Hunter actually did cross the border, he’d be violating his parole.
A spokesperson for Hunter told the Times of San Diego that Campa-Najjar was just “desperate for a headline,” but had to admit that the congressman didn’t actually hop into Mexico like he claimed.
“It was a Border Patrol guided tour with several members of Congress. The barrier is what they have now and it is entirely on the U.S. side, just like it is here in San Diego,” Hunter spokesperson Michael Harrison told the local paper.
