The Senate Ethics Committee issued a Public Letter of Admonition on Thursday after finding that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) repeatedly violated Senate Rules and “related standards of conduct by soliciting campaign contributions in a federal building.”

The Committee launched an investigation after receiving a formal complaint alleging that Graham solicited campaign donations for Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker during a media interview that was conducted in the Russell Senate Office Building on November 30, 2022. At that time, Walker was in a runoff race against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA).

“The Committee further concluded that during your discussion of the senatorial run-off election, you directly solicited campaign contributions on behalf of Mr. Walker’s campaign committee … five separate times,” the Committee said in a letter to Graham. “Your actions on November 30, 2022, represented a repeat violation of Senate standards of conduct.”

“On October 14, 2020, immediately following a Judiciary Committee hearing, you engaged in an unplanned media interview in the Dirksen Senate Office Building,” the letter continued. “In response to a reporter’s question regarding your reelection campaign fundraising, you directly solicited campaign contributions for your campaign committee. While the Committee concluded your conduct violated Senate standards of conduct, it considered several mitigating factors, and in accordance with the Committee’s Rules of Procedure, determined your conduct was ‘inadvertent, technical, or otherwise of a de minimis nature.’ On March 8, 2021, the Committee dismissed the complaint and notified you of the Committee’s findings and action by private letter.”

The Committee said that ethical standards that U.S. senators are held to are “a responsibility both broader than and distinct from criminal law.”

“The specific prohibition on campaign solicitation in federal buildings and the restrictions on the use of official resources for campaign activity have been consistent and clear throughout your years of Senate service, and the Committee is confident the Senate community understands this standard and its rationale,” the letter said. “Applying this standard to your conduct, the Committee finds that you did solicit federal campaign contributions and otherwise impermissibly conducted campaign activity in a federal building.”

The Committee said that Graham’s decision to solicit campaign funds in a federal building, despite already being warned, resulted in “harm to the public trust and confidence in the United States Senate.”

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“You are hereby admonished,” the letter concluded.

Arizona’s Supreme Court sent part of Kari Lake‘s appeal of her 2022 governor’s race defeat back to a trial court for review while refusing to hear the rest of the claims.

The remaining piece of the legal challenge concerns how Maricopa County, which includes the capital of Phoenix and is Arizona’s most populous county, performed signature verifications for early ballots.

An order from the high court late Wednesday said the superior court and Arizona Court of Appeals made an “erroneous” decision to reject the claim because of their focus on election procedures rather than the application of those procedures in last November’s contest as cited in Lake’s claim. Lake now faces the challenge of establishing that mail-in votes were affected “in sufficient numbers to alter the outcome” of last November’s election.

My statement on the Arizona Supreme Court ruling in favor of our case ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/pxo8j0Ubs2

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 23, 2023

“I am thrilled that the Supreme Court has agreed to give our signature verification evidence the appropriate forum for the evaluation it deserves,” Lake said in a statement.

The Arizona Supreme Court order, signed by Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, also called on Lake’s team to file a reply to the defendants’ motions for sanctions in regard to the assertion of there being “the undisputed fact that 35,563 unaccounted for ballots were added to the total of ballots at a third party facility.”

The order said the “record does not reflect” such a claim and noted the motions of sanctions “will be considered in due course.”

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The AZ Supreme Court is refusing to hear 6 of 7 claims brought by @KariLake regarding her loss to @katiehobbs, and is reminding a 7th, which alleges Maricopa County violated signature verification procedures for early ballots, back to trial court. pic.twitter.com/bB8K0CQ8ns

— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) March 23, 2023

Lake, a former journalist who made election integrity a top priority of her campaign, sued after the results showed that she lost the November contest to Democrat Katie Hobbs by roughly 17,000 votes in the governor’s race. Hobbs was sworn in as governor in early January.

Lake’s 2022 election complaint raised allegations of misconduct and illegal votes with issues ranging from mail-in ballots, chain-of-custody, and problematic ballot printers. Maricopa County officials acknowledged issues with the election, but insisted every valid vote in the contest had been counted.

After Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson threw out Lake’s challenge, the appellate rejected the case in February, writing that voters were “able to cast their ballots, that votes were counted correctly, and that no other basis justifies setting aside the election results.”

Throughout, Lake said she would not give in, vowing to take her case to the high court.

Two other Republican candidates, Abe Hamadeh and Mark Finchem, who ran for attorney general and secretary of state, respectively, also received unfavorable rulings in their legal challenges seeking to challenge their losses.

In the months since the November election, media reports have said Lake is mulling a Senate bid and former President Donald Trump is considering her as a possible vice presidential running mate.