Sen. Warnock Faces Questions Over Campaign Funds Used in Personal Legal Fight

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) used his campaign lawyers to represent him in a personal lawsuit that involved his time as a church minister, Politico reports. While the lawsuit itself was initially dismissed and widely seen as frivolous—including, among other things, a complaint about Warnock’s church services and the loss of a man’s personal belongings in a storage locker—Warnock is said to have relied on campaign resources when the suit was refiled in early 2021, a move that Politico notes may run afoul of Federal Election Commission guidance. Warnock’s campaign has argued that the use of campaign funds is allowed, because the lawsuit, despite pertaining to a time when he was not in the U.S. Senate, was filed when he was in office and served to his Senate office. Similarly, the lawsuit named several other government officials who were represented by government lawyers. “It’s completely legal and appropriate to have used campaign funds on this legal matter, as many federal office holders have done before,” Marc Elias, an election law attorney representing Warnock’s campaign, told Politico. Quentin Folks, Warnock’s campaign manager, said in a statement in response to Politico’s report that it “intentionally misrepresents reality by relying on Washington Republican’s attacks instead of the actual facts.” The lawsuit, Folks said, “was never a personal lawsuit, it was a frivolous lawsuit filed against multiple public figures and handled according to the law.”