The Senate Select Committee on Ethics dismissed a complaint filed against Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) alleging campaign finance violations and sexual misconduct.
The ethics committee letter dated June 26 was sent to Gallego informing him that the members will not move forward with the complaint filed by Luna because “the Committee did not find evidence that your actions violated Federal law, Senate rules, or related standards of conduct.”
The letter was first reported by NBC News and was signed by the six committee members: Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Coons (D-DE), James Risch (R-ID), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
Luna first filed the complaint April 17, following a cryptic post to X where the congresswoman said the Senate “has its own trash to take out,” and urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to “look into the allegations against one of your senators.” Luna later confirmed to CBS News that the senator in question was Gallego.
She offered scant details about what the complaint was about, but said, “there is a woman that allegedly is coming forward with attorneys [and] wants to go on-record about an incident that occurred between the two of them at the same time, and the event was sexual in nature, allegedly.” She later said she’d caught wind of four women who had unnerving encounters with Gallego.
Luna had been critical of Gallego because of his close friendship with former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who resigned from Congress and suspended a gubernatorial campaign following sexual misconduct allegations. Gallego has denied having any knowledge of “actual accusations of harassment of staff or predatory behavior toward staff” by Swalwell and denied the accusations by Luna.
The committee explains in its letter to Gallego that members had requested information from him on the same day as Luna’s complaint and again on May 15.
In a social media post following the reported letter, Gallego said Luna’s accusations were “right-wing conspiracies.”
“The dismissal by the Ethics Committee reaffirms what I have said about these accusations from the beginning: they were right-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists like Anna Paulina Luna, the White House, and their allies,” Gallego said. “I look forward to an apology from Rep. Luna for weaponizing the ethics process while refusing to investigate historic corruption that’s making life harder for families.”
Luna responded to the senator’s post and disputed the characterization that the allegations were “conspiracies,” and mentioned Gallego’s divorce nine years ago, which was the subject of Republican criticism when he was running for office.
“These are not conspiracy theories,” Luna said. “You’re a gross example of representation. Need I mention you leaving your pregnant wife during your Campaign for Senate? There are plenty of people who know about your antics.
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“The good news about DC is everyone talks, and eventually the reporters come forward with your texts,” she said. “Do yourself a favor and keep raising for your legal defense fund. Once a creep always a creep, and you’re gonna need it.”
Gallego had set up a legal defense fund last month in order to respond to the ethics committee inquiry.