- “We are likely to take legal action to combat the blatant lies and coordinated disinformation campaign,” Stelson campaign manager Alma Baker said in a statement to Axios.
- The campaign said Friday it sent cease-and-desist letters, seen by Axios, to several media outlets that reported the DHS claims as fact.
- The race between Stelson and Republican Scott Perry in Pennsylvania’s 10th District is one of the most competitive and expensive congressional elections in the country, attracting more than $26 million in spending, according to AdImpact.
Driving the news: DHS issued a press release Wednesday announcing the arrest of what it says is an “illegal alien from Nigeria who publicly exposed himself while working for a congressional campaign in Pennsylvania.”
- The migrant, Chimaobim Adedayo Igbojekwe, was arrested by ICE on Oct. 1 after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct last month, according to the press release.
- The release included a statement from ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall saying, “It is unbelievable that Janelle Stelson would employ an illegal alien to work on a congressional campaign, let alone a pervert who exposed himself in public.”
Stelson she herself quickly rejected that claim: “He’s not an employee. He’s not a volunteer,” she said at an event Wednesday.
- No one named Igbojekwe has been paid by Stelson’s campaign as of Sept. 30, according to disbursements tracked by the Federal Election Commission. The campaign also showed Axios a search of its volunteer database that returned no results for the name.
- In its cease and desist letter, the campaign said Igbojekwe was also “never employed by any of the campaign’s vendors.”
- Asked for comment on this story on Thursday, DHS sent Axios its first press release. The agency did not respond to several follow-up emails seeking comment on the Stelson campaign’s threat of legal action.
Between the lines: DHS cited a New Jersey-based media outlet called “Shore News Network” as the source for the claim that Igbojekwe was a solicitor for Stelson. This media outlet cited a social media post from conservative activist Scott Presler.
- “A canvasser for Democrat Janelle Stelson…reportedly charged with indecent assault,” Presler wrote in an article on X, which included a photo of a court document that did not reference Stelson’s campaign.
- Presler did not respond to a request for comment from Axios.
Axios obtained an affidavit in which Trevor Jeffers, THE East Pennsboro, Pa., police officer who made the initial arrest said Igbojekwe was sitting in a car parked in a residential neighborhood “wearing nothing but a shirt” with his “genitals… exposed.”
- “Igbojekwe indicated he was in the neighborhood for work and was waiting to hand out fliers for Janelle Stelson’s political campaign,” Jeffers said in the affidavit, adding that Igbojekwe “was able to provide a stack of fliers showing he was there for work.”
- East Pennsboro police did not provide comment and denied Axios’ public records request for documents related to the case.
- Several media outlets that covered the initial arrest or the DHS press release have since deleted their articles and posts. None responded to Axios’ requests for comment.
- The Stelson campaign, when asked about the affidavit, referred Axios to Baker’s statement Wednesday, saying Igbojekwe had “never been employed” by them and that they had “never heard of him before his arrest was announced.”
Zoom: Igbojekwe was charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct, before pleading guilty to a single count of disorderly conduct, according to court records.
- The lawyer Listed as his representative in court documents, Cumberland County First Deputy Public Defender Arla Waller did not respond to several phone calls seeking comment.
- Igbojekwe did not respond to a request for comment sent to an email address listed under his name.
The last one: The Office of Special Counsel will “open a case” in response to questions about whether Wall violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits mixing federal government work with political campaigning, according to emails shared with Axios.
- Donald Sherman, executive director of the ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wrote in an email to OSC that Wall’s statement was “gratuitous partisanship that constitutes prohibited political activity.”
- An OSC staff member responded to Sherman: “We have received your complaint and will open a file to resolve this matter. »
- An OSC spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the emails but declined to comment further. Wall did not respond to a request for comment.
What they say: Deborah Fleischaker, former acting chief of staff for ICE during the Biden administration, told Axios that the agency’s legal counsel during his tenure “almost certainly would have recommended against saying something like” what Wall did in his statement.
- Directly referencing an election in an official statement “is really considered a no no,” she told Axios.
- Fleischaker acknowledged that federal ethics rules are no longer as deterrent as they once were.
The bottom line: Cook Political Report considers the race between Stelson and Perry for the Harrisburg-based House seat to be a toss-up.
- The Freedom Caucus Fund, a hybrid PAC dedicated to electing and supporting members of the House Freedom Caucus, released a digital ad Thursday calling Igbojekwe a “Nigerian illegal alien campaigning for Democrat Janelle Stelson.”
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