Axios reported Monday that Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, is under federal investigation for alleged campaign finance violations. A source told the outlet the Department of Justice probe grew out of a whistleblower complaint from California.
The complaint alleges that Gallego used a political action committee’s money “to fund excursions to Miami, Chicago, Disneyland and Disney World with his family,” Axios said. Gallego’s office did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment. These are allegations, and the report does not say what the investigation has found.
The Ethics Committee decision
The report landed days after the Senate Ethics Committee dismissed a separate complaint against Gallego. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, had accused him of financial misconduct and sexual misconduct. NBC News obtained the committee’s letter to Gallego, dated June 26.
“We are writing to inform you that the Select Committee on Ethics (the Committee) dismissed a complaint filed against you by Representative Anna Paulina Luna,” the six-member bipartisan panel wrote. It said the complaint alleged campaign finance violations and inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature. The committee asked Gallego for more information on April 17 and May 15, 2026. After that, it said it “did not find evidence that your actions violated Federal law, Senate Rules or related standards of conduct.”
Luna’s accusations came after Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, resigned. Both had denied allegations of sexual misconduct against them.
Gallego’s response
Gallego answered the dismissal in a statement. “Today’s dismissal 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,” he said. He added that he looked forward to an apology from Luna “for weaponizing the ethics process while refusing to investigate historic corruption that’s making life harder for families.”
That statement came with the ethics ruling, before the Axios report. The Axios account does not include a response from Gallego to the new allegations.
