A watchdog group is pressing ahead in its calls for an investigation into whether a Democratic congressman violated federal law over his social media activity.

Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) faced an ethics complaint in July over allegations from the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust that he seemingly "abused official resources for political purposes" due to his campaign-tied Twitter account featuring material related to his official account on the platform, which is now called X. On Thursday, the watchdog handed over "additional evidence" to the Office of Congressional Ethics, a nonpartisan body that reviews misconduct allegations against members of Congress and sometimes refers matters to the House Ethics Committee.

RENTS ROSE AGAIN IN JULY, PUTTING UPWARD PRESSURE ON INFLATION

"Rep. Casten’s continued violations demonstrate willful intent and are quite telling," FACT director Kendra Arnold said. "He is not only responsible for understanding the law but also for ensuring that both he and his staff abide by it. The law violated here is one of the most basic, common sense ethics rules, which is covered plainly in the House Ethics manual. Yet even after an ethics complaint was filed and he cannot legitimately claim ignorance of this law, he continues to repeatedly violate it."

On the heels of the original complaint being filed, the watchdog is pointing to other examples that it says demonstrate Casten likely skirted House rules. Lawmakers are barred from using taxpayer-backed resources for campaign-related matters, and a House Ethics Committee memo in 2018 instructed politicians not to use social media accounts in connection to campaigns to post official material.

FACT's supplementary complaint cites various examples between July 25 and Aug. 8 of Casten's campaign account retweeting his official account, which the watchdog noted is linked in the bio of his personal profile.

For instance, Casten's personal account on Aug. 7 retweeted his post from the official side that read, "Climate risk is financial risk, and investors have a right to this material information. I led [Reps. Kathy Castor and Juan Vargas] & 77 of our colleagues in a letter to Chair Gensler urging him to quickly finalize a strong & durable climate risk rule."

The OCE's board ultimately decides whether it will open inquiries based on complaints filed by outside organizations.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Casten's campaign did not return a request for comment.

"At this point, his behavior is clearly further eroding trust in government officials, he is reflecting poorly on the House as a whole, and he is ironically strengthening the argument for an investigation into himself. His constituents have to ask themselves — if Rep. Casten is repeatedly unwilling to follow such a simple, obvious, and public-facing ethics law … then what other actions is he willing to take when there is less visibility?" asked Arnold.