Good Job WLBT

WLBT reports on the ethics investigation of Congressman Bennie Thompson, the first original report we've seen in Mississippi.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) and four other Democratic lawmakers are under investigation for possibly receiving improper gifts.

Thompson was in Jackson Monday speaking before the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership.

The Committee on Standards of Conduct is looking into whether Thompson's trip to a business conference in the Caribbean last November was paid for by lobbyists.

Thompson says the committee approved the trip before he left, but they received a complaint after he returned home.

"The law requires me to say if I'm invited, to submit the info, and whether or not the trip was approved is subject to the ethics committee," Thompson told WLBT. "I did it, they sent me a letter back in writing saying it's fine. I followed the law absolutely."

His pleas of ignorance are not congruent with the papers he filed and signed showing corporate sponsors of the sessions he spoke at.