An ethics watchdog sent a letter dated Tuesday to the Senate Select Committee on ethics charging that Sen. Rafael Warnock, D-Ga., has been living rent-free in a plush $1 million home in Atlanta in violation of federal law and chamber rules.
The Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust (FACT) sent the letter to Senate Select Committee on Ethics Chair James Lankford, R-Okla., and ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del. In it, FACT Executive Director Kendra Arnold charges that Warnock has not reported his housing on financial disclosures.
The house in question was purchased for $989,000 in October 2022 by Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Warnock is a part-time senior pastor.
The Washington Free Beacon first reported last month that the five-bedroom home features "a 100-bottle wine fridge, a Bluetooth-enabled stainless steel cooking range, custom crown molding, and a walk-in closet affixed to a 'stunning' European bathroom with a remote-controlled privacy curtain."
Arnold wrote "The home's description also contradicts the purpose behind the parsonage allowance, which is to provide modest accommodations that allow the pastor to concentrate their energy on fulfilling the church's mission.
"Especially given the limited amount of time Senator Warnock has for outside employment and the $31,815.12 annual salary he receives from the church in addition to the housing, it appears clear that the housing is excessive and unreasonable for the services he is actually performing," she added.
All for the cost to him of nothing, FACT asserts.
"[T]he rules which allow for a Senator to accept lodging or housing are only applicable in a narrow set of circumstances — they are not an open-ended loophole that can be abused," Arnold wrote, adding, "this is a matter of plain common sense."
"It is difficult to fathom any citizen could look at this situation (a U.S. Senator being a part-time employee of an organization that happens to buy him a million-dollar house to live in for free after he was elected to Congress, and after which he sells his own house) and not think something potentially very wrong is afoot," she added.
Warnock is in breach of the Ethics in Government Act, Arnold wrote.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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