The House Ethics Committee announced Friday it was probing Texas GOP Rep. Troy Nehls for allegedly diverting $25,000 in campaign funds for personal use before and during his first term in Congress.
Ethics chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) and ranking member Susan Wild (D-Pa.) revealed that the investigation into Nehls, which began March 26, had been extended, but made no public statements on its progress.
“The Committee notes that the mere fact of conducting further review of a referral, and any mandatory disclosure of such further review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” Guest and Wild said in a statement.
The panel also released an Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) report from December laying out the allegations.
Nehls, three of his congressional staffers and two of his campaign aides refused to cooperate with the OCE investigation, according to the 14-page report.
“The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) was created under Nancy Pelosi, which is why I refused to cooperate with the office,” Nehls said in a statement. “My books remain open, and I am cooperating with the legitimate House Committee on Ethics.”
A close ally of Donald Trump, Nehls raised eyebrows during the House speakership fight in October when he nominated the former president to lead the Republican conference.
During President Biden’s State of the Union address in March, the 56-year-old wore a bold red-white and blue bowtie with a white T-shirt bearing Trump’s mugshot and the words “Never Surrender.”
The congressman’s campaign committee never made any rent payments to its listed location of “Freedom Hall” in the Houston suburb of Richmond, Texas — a site that has since become an “Islamic center and boarding school,” the report states.
Instead, Nehls for Congress forked over $25,319 in rent money between 2019 and 2022 to Liberty 1776, LLC, of which the Republican is the sole proprietor, according to Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts records.
The company is registered to the Texas rep’s home address in the same town and had its license terminated in 2022 for franchise tax evasion.
Nehls did not disclose his ownership of Liberty 1776 in his annual financial disclosures for 2021 or 2022.
This past February, after the OCE completed its probe, Nehls submitted amendments to his disclosures for both of those years listing himself as sole proprietor of the company but noting he took no salary or compensation.
One record turned up by the ethics office’s probe also found the company had made a $159 payment for personal property taxes at the Freedom Hall location in 2022.
Nehls’ campaign also paid $12,652.62 to other limited liability companies titled Patriot Media and Pogie USA, but no ownership ties were established by the report.
“The Board notes the significance of Rep. Nehls’ decision not to cooperate with the OCE’s review, particularly in light of the fact that every individual who also declined to cooperate was represented by his attorney, or an entity or individual closely associated with him,” the report concludes.
“By choosing to bypass the OCE, which serves as an independent body responsible for reviewing allegations of misconduct, Rep. Nehls is undermining the transparency and the integrity of the investigation,” it states.
Nehls is running for a third term this November to represent Texas’ 22nd Congressional District after serving as the sheriff of Fort Bend County from 2013 to 2021.
