Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, called accusations she illegally collected $1 million in campaign contributions "baloney" and said Monday she thinks she is being targeted as the first black Republican woman elected to Congress.
"Nancy Pelosi and the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] claim that they like diversity, but if you think on your own, if you are an independent thinker, that's not the diversity, they like," Love told Fox News' "Fox & Friends."
"If you're a Republican, that's certainly not the diversity that they like, and they're frankly afraid that we're going to bring more people to come along with us."
"There is a coordinated effort out there around campaign time to smear, to do whatever they can to hurt reputations, to do whatever they can to assassinate these people that are out there that are doing good things for their constituents," she added. "So, I just needed to put it out there and say, absolutely nothing that we did was wrong."
The progressive watchdog group Alliance for a Better Utah accused Love, in a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission last week of raising money during the primary challenge period and another $372,000 after the primary election, even though she did was unopposed.
Love has said she would redesignate the $372,000 and pay back around $10,000, but the alliance has said the offer is "completely inadequate."
Other lawmakers have been faced similar issues, Love said, including Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, in 2016. In that case, the FCC ruled Lee could keep contributions that had been raised for a primary election that eventually did not happen.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.