Aaron Schock calls on Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in the official part of the trip in question.
Rep. Aaron "not a lawyer" Schock is, of course,
in the headlines again, all because he had to have his extravagant grifting documented for posterity. On an "official business" trip to India in August 2014, the Global Poverty Project picked up the tab, and that's where Schock's new problems begin.
Schock appears to have improperly accepted money from an outside group to cover travel expenses for a companion on a trip to India and failed to disclose it in a possible violation of House rules, according to a National Journal review of public records. […]
But Schock's photographer and videographer, Jonathon Link, traveled with him on the trip, which was well-documented on Schock's Instagram account. The organization offered to pay for the costs of one staffer to accompany Schock ... and Schock suggested Link ...
The problem is House rules allow a member to accept private money for a companion's travel expenses only if the companion is a staffer, spouse or child. Link was none of those; he didn't appear on Schock's official or campaign payroll until September 2014.
The trip itself is fine by House rules, but the unofficial photographer's presence—donated by Global Poverty Project—was not unless Schock cleared it first by getting a waiver from the House Ethics Committee. Which of course he didn't. And of course he didn't disclose after-the-fact that Link was there on the Project's dime, which he is also required to do by law. The photographer's travel itself may be in enough of a gray area to be okay, since he was actually officially documenting the trip (and a critical component of U.S. foreign policy
that was). But the not-disclosing part by Schock, that's going to be stickier for the congressman.
What's going to be sticky for Republican leadership is dealing with the "companion" aspect of Schock's latest digressions. If they haven't cut the guy loose yet because of his many, many ethical lapses, would ousting him now look like what it would probably be—a freakout over the appearance of "the gay"? Schock hasn't declared his orientation one way or the other, but he also hasn't done a hell of a lot to keep the closet door tightly shut, either. Which is something the GOP generally demands.