Did Lauren Boebert Use Campaign Funds For Personal Use? The Drama, Explained

Given the toxic nature of American politics, it's fair to say that many accusations against politicians turn out to be exaggerated or misreported. This is why there's some skepticism around the reports that Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert used campaign funds for personal expenses — an action that would be highly illegal if true. However, a closer look into these allegations reveals some intriguing details about the lawmaker. In 2021, a year after she was elected, Boebert filed itemized disbursement documents with the Federal Election Commission.

It didn't take long for Americans to dig into these documents and uncover some interesting entries. Four of the expenses were described as "Personal expense of Lauren Boebert billed to campaign account in error. Expense has been reimbursed." These payments totaled $6,650. After being hounded by the press, Boebert submitted a revised filing. While those same payments remained, the new version stated that they covered rent and utilities.

Interestingly, these payments were made to a "John Pacheco," though his address happened to be the same as Boebert's restaurant, 120 E. Third Street, Rifle, Colorado. It's worth noting that this was not the only controversy Lauren Boebert's restaurant faced before it lost its food license in 2020. When asked about the suspicious filings, Boebert's campaign didn't offer additional information but restated that they were personal expenses accidentally billed to the campaign and had been reimbursed. In the end, the lawmaker faced no penalty for the "mix-up." This is not shocking considering Boebert previously got away scot-free with charging campaign donors $22,259, claiming it was for "mileage."

Following the 2020 election, Lauren Boebert faced one of her messiest controversies ever when she billed the GOP campaign $21,199.52 for what she claimed was "mileage." According to the IRS's 2020 rate, each mile of mileage should cost 57.5 cents, meaning Boebert would have had to travel approximately 38,000 miles to justify such a bill. But there was just one small problem: the entire circumference of the Earth is around 24,901 miles — a lot less than the 38,000 miles the lawmaker claimed to have traveled. To put this into perspective, if she drove 60 miles per hour for eight hours a day, she would need to drive for 80 days straight to accumulate such a bill.

In light of these clearly inflated filings, several organizations took it upon themselves to challenge Boebert. And thanks to the ensuing controversy, the state's deputy attorney announced she would investigate the claims to uncover the truth. However, when the matter reached the Federal Election Commission, the board, comprised of three Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent, didn't get the votes necessary to initiate an investigation. The three Republicans voted against it, and since a minimum of four votes was required for an investigation, Boebert was let off the hook.

Her team later submitted an additional filing, claiming that the scandal was just another one of the debunked rumors about Lauren Boebert. They added that the expenses included not just mileage but also hotels and Uber rides. They also filed an amendment and changed the "mileage reimbursement" amount to $17,280. But judging by her history, the Colorado lawmaker is either incredibly careless with record-keeping or skilled at committing fraud.