Officially-Connected Travel to Azerbaijan in 2013

Statement

The Committee on Ethics (Committee) has been reviewing allegations relating to officially-connected travel by Members and staff of the House to Azerbaijan in May 2013. Today the Committee filed a Report to the House announcing its conclusions. The Committee unanimously voted to adopt the attached Report and its findings. As described in the Report, the Committee found no evidence that the Members and staff who participated in the trip knowingly violated any House Rule, law, regulation, or other standard of conduct. The Committee conducted an extensive investigation. It issued 12 subpoenas and 18 voluntary requests for information, and collected nearly 190,000 pages of materials, including approximately 10,000 pages of supplemental materials provided to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). The Committee also interviewed ten witnesses. All of the Members and staff who went on the trips did so only after getting Committee approval to accept the trips. Neither the Committee nor OCE found any evidence of any knowing violation by any Member or House staffer. In addition, all Members and staff fully cooperated with the Committee’s review.

Documents

• Statement on ethics.house.gov
• Document 1 (PDF)
• Document 2 (PDF)
• Document 3 (PDF)

More

• All House ethics statements