Suozzi formally requests probe into Vice President JD Vance's appearance at Bethpage event

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Suozzi on Thursday requested a federal investigation into whether Vice President JD Vance misused taxpayer dollars for political purposes for an official administrative event he held in Bethpage on Wednesday.

Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) notes the event featuring Vance was billed as an official government function to highlight attempts to root out waste, fraud and abuse. 

During Vance’s appearance at the Bethpage event, he roasted Suozzi as "the worst congressman in the entire United States" and urged GOP voters to back Republican Mike LiPetri for Suozzi’s House seat and to "kick crazy Tom Suozzi the hell out of Washington."

"If taxpayer dollars were used to finance this political event, it would be a misuse of congressionally appropriated funds and violate the law," writes Suozzi in his letter Thursday to Joseph Nocella, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Jamieson Greer, the acting head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Suozzi said in his letter that his own conversations afterward with the producers of the event — to which he was not invited to attend despite it falling in his district — found that an outside entertainment company was contracted at a cost of over $110,000 to supply the stage, seating, lighting, sound system, security barriers and other infrastructure.

LiPetri, in a statement texted to Newsday, said, "Tom Suozzi should worry more about the left wing lunatics he’s let take over his party than going after the Vice President and the Democrat Mega Donor, Greg Hach, who is cosplaying as a Republican against me in Tuesday's primary should tell voters the truth about how he bankrolled the very Democrats who impeached and tried to imprison President Trump — I'm running against two Democrats here and can't wait to send both of them home."

There was no immediate response to a request for comment to a spokesperson for the vice president or the Nassau County Republican Committee, whose chair was among those in attendance.

County officials said the vice president’s office coordinated the entire event.

When asked about who paid for security provided by the Nassau County Police Department, a spokesperson for County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Chris Boyle, told Newsday: “Security was provided as is the case with any high profile elected official, Democrat or Republican.”

Suozzi writes that "the bulk" of Vance’s 18-minute remarks from start to finish focused on campaign-related rhetoric and the sale of his recently published book, "Communion."

"The event was more akin to a campaign rally," Suozzi asserts. And he also writes, "Taxpayer dollars ostensibly funded the Vice President’s travel to and from the event, his substantial security traveling to and during the event, the use of government equipment, and supporting government personnel."

Suozzi wants "a full accounting" from the U.S. attorney’s office and the special counsel's office on "federal, state, and local taxpayer funds used for the Vice President’s campaign appearance in my district."

Suozzi further asked for a review of whether Vance’s campaign conduct constitutes a violation of federal law or other applicable statutes or regulations.

Suozzi is not alone in his view.

In an interview after the event Wednesday, Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen, a nonpartisan group that emphasizes government accountability, agreed Vance’s comments urging support for LiPetri were entirely political and an example of campaign messaging — and had nothing to do with the "official business" of the vice president.

Because of that, Holman said, federal rules mandate that "this event must be paid for and disclosed by a campaign account, either Vance's own campaign account if his campaign paid for it, or LiPetri's campaign account if his campaign paid for it."

"The trip itself could have mixed some official duties elsewhere," Holman acknowledged of Vance’s overall itinerary. But if so, he said, "The trip should be classified a ‘mixed trip,’ with taxpayers paying for the official duties portion and campaign funds paying for the campaign portion."

Newsday's Candice Ferrette contributed to this story.