Committee on Ethics continues investigation of Rep. Jim Hagedorn

Rep. Jim Hagedorn (MN-01) remains under investigation by the Committee on Ethics, according to an update on Thursday.

The Mankato congressman has been under investigation since early September. The committee has yet to disclose what the investigation is specifically about, but said in an update that the committee decided "to extend the Committee’s review of the matter."

The committee also stated that no further information would be given out so that the investigation can be completed in an orderly fashion.

In August 2020, Hagedorn fired his chief of staff after a spending spree on taxpayer-funded communications. The freshman Republican congressman from Blue Earth County spent almost 40% of his office’s annual expense allowances in the first quarter of last year, outpacing all of his colleagues in the House, according to Legistorm, a firm that tracks the allowances.

Other reports came out last year that Hagedorn had not been paying rent for the Mankato office space his campaign used as its headquarters, as well as spending $100,000 from taxpayer funds to have a company that is part-owned by one of his staffers print campaign mailings. That prompted calls for an ethics probe and the firing of Hagedorn’s chief of staff, Peter Su.