Audit: Missouri senator used state vehicles for campaigning

(AP) An audit says U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley used a state vehicle to travel to political events during his time as Missouri attorney general. State Auditor Nicole Galloway released the audit Thursday. Her office found that Hawley has reimbursed some expenses after making campaign-related stops while using a state vehicle but he owes more. The audit also found that there is an appearance of impropriety but no evidence that laws were broken in work that Hawley’s campaign consultants did with attorney general staffers. Hawley says he’s pleased with the audit results but says there was bias in the Democratic auditor’s review.

Hawley’s office responding: “Once again, partisan campaign attacks against Josh Hawley have been proven false. This baseless allegation was instigated by a Democrat group in support of Mr. Hawley’s 2018 U.S. Senate campaign opponent. The audit is a total exoneration of Mr. Hawley’s time as Attorney General. He never misused state resources for political purposes.”