DOJ investigating GOP Rep. Ross Spano for campaign finance violations

The Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into freshman Rep. Ross Spano (R-Fla.) over possible campaign finance violations, the House Ethics Committee announced in a news release Thursday.

What's happening: The Ethics Committee unanimously voted to "defer consideration" of the issue from its own inquiry to the Justice Department, per the release. Spano has denied wrongdoing, writing in a statement that he plans to cooperate fully with the investigation and that mistakes his campaign made with respect to loans were "completely inadvertent and unintentional."