TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy says his Senate opponent and fellow Democratic congressman Alan Grayson is a liar, a lawbreaker and has disqualified himself from serving the public.
Murphy's remarks came Wednesday, the day after the House Ethics Committee found that there is "substantial reason to believe" Grayson violated federal law and House rules in a number of business and legal activities and in managing his congressional office.
It is a claim Grayson adamantly denies.
“Insinuations are exactly what we are talking about here, because there is no proof whatsoever,” he told Channel 9 Wednesday.
Grayson was steadfast in his belief that Murphy, his Democratic opponent in the upcoming Senate race, was behind the ethics probe.
Murphy believes Grayson used his position in Congress to make money off a hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands and that his denial flies in the face of the Ethics Committee’s findings.
“No, that’s ridiculous,” Murphy said Wednesday in response to Grayson’s reaction. “It’s so clear that he’s caught red-handed.”
Murphy said he will continue talking about the issue as they compete for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat now held by Republican Marco Rubio.
In the meantime, the U.S. House of Representatives has not formed an ethics subcommittee to investigate the matter, meaning the issue is essentially over, Grayson said.
The allegations and the Ethics Committee’s findings seriously affect Grayson’s race for senator, regardless of the back-and-forth, WFTV political analyst Dr. Rick Foglesong said.
“I think he is seriously damaged by the revelations that have come out thus far,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.