Derrick Anderson’s campaign issued a cease-and-desist notice regarding an “false and defamatory” Cameron Hamilton advertisement which claims Anderson is being investigated for fraud.

The once-sleepy Republican primary in Virginia’s most contested congressional seat has now gone into full-on chaos as both candidates launching flamboyant ads regarding their professional records and accusing the other of deceit, fraud, and defamation.

The six-way race for nomination in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District is led by two veteran military personnel -the Derrick Anderson, a former Army Green Beret, and Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL. They have each positioned themselves as the most powerful Republican contender to win this crucial seat.

Although the two candidates have the same information on paper, they have gained the support of the distinct Republican camp prior to the primary on June 18 The top House GOP officials are backing Anderson as well as the majority from the ultra-right Freedom Caucus have endorsed Hamilton.

The duels in the ads and the resulting falloutcaused that intraparty fracture into a total fracture.

A TV ad for Anderson’s Anderson Campaign, which began airing on May 24, highlights Hamilton served for a number of years in Biden. Biden Administration — a fact that Hamilton has attempted to refute by claiming he resigned from the federal position due to discontent with Democratic policies.

However, the most raucous fireworks have gone off over the negative video of Hamilton which claims Anderson as a lawyer is being investigated for fraud. Anderson’s campaign has called the charge “false and defamatory” this week, based on the fact that an ethics suit against Anderson submitted to the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel hasn’t resulted in any formal investigation.

The origin of the complaint is not known — a fact which has been a source of controversy and has led to Anderson claiming that it originated from an Hamilton affiliate, and the Hamilton campaign denied any knowledge of the person who submitted it.

The dispute is an abrupt increase in this year’s Republican race for 7th District, a geographically diverse collection of suburbs and rural areas extending all the way from Prince William County to the Virginia Piedmont. The race this year is expected to be particularly competitive due to the fact that the seat is not vacated Rep. Abigail Spanberger is the incumbent. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) is running for governor.

Democrats with some advantage in this district that is swing they are deciding on seven contestants in their primary, which includes a number of local and state legislators and Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, who has collected thousands of dollars worth of donations since he has highlighted his involvement in the impeachment case against Donald Trump.

In the GOP side, Anderson and Hamilton are the top of the line in fundraising, endorsements and outside spending. Both candidates launched ads that play the importance of their connections to Trump as well as hurling insults about each other’s personal or work past.

Hamilton’s streaming and digital advertisement, with the title “We Have a Better Choice,” is a bid to paint Anderson as a creature from Washington and calls him “D.C. Derrick” over images from Washington’s U.S. Capitol.

“Derrick claims he lives here, but he’s under investigation for fraud and lying about his residency,” the voice-over announces in the 30-second advertisement. “If you love D.C., you’ll love Derrick Anderson.”

The line is an ode to an Daily Beast article from the autumn, when it stated that Anderson was able to purchase an apartment located in the Alexandria area in Fairfax County — well beyond the district lineby using an Veterans Affairs loan meant for the purchase of a “primary residence.”

Anderson isn’t required to live in the congressional district to be a candidate, but he has claimed to be”the “hometown guy” in the race. His campaign has claimed that he’s met the terms in the VA loan, and claimed that he is now residing within Spotsylvania County, where he was born and raised.

However the legal ethics complaint that cited an article in the Daily Beast report argued that Anderson an attorney who is a practicing lawyer at the D.C. District level, had violated D.C. Court of Appeals rules of conduct by engaging in “deceitful and dishonest behavior” as described in the story.

The complaint also sought to determine if Anderson had committed fraud on the ballot. As per The Daily Beast, Anderson’s voter card for 2021 had included a residence within Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg region as the primary residence -however, he had bought the Fairfax townhouse the previous year.

“Derrick’s a constitutional attorney and Green Beret: he follows the rules, and he follows the law,” Anderson campaign manager Diego de la Pena said in an announcement.

De la Pena, who declared the fact that “our opponent’s failing campaign” was “getting desperate,” took things one step further by requesting the YouTube stop airing the digital commercial.

“Hamilton for Congress’s irresponsible and untruthful assertion … is a deliberate falsehood,” de la Pena wrote to YouTube TV in a cease-and-desist letter sent on Wednesday. He claimed the ad was infuriating because there was no investigation been initiated in response to an ethics-related complaint. (A YouTube spokesperson YouTube was not available to provide clarification.)

The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel is the office that is responsible for processing ethics complaints of lawyers who are admitted into the D.C. Bar, must first carry out an initial “preliminary screening” before docketing any formal complaint.

The rules that the office enforces stop the complaint against Anderson from being filed before the vote which will be held on 18 June. Any complaint filed against any political candidate with less than 90 days prior to the election they’re running in must be filed after the election for it to be re-examined, as per these regulations.

Hamilton P. Fox III Hamilton P. Fox III, who is the D.C. disciplinary counsel, explained that the 90-day rule for elections was put being enforced “to prevent people from manipulating the disciplinary process to affect the outcome of an election.”

He was unable to affirm or confirm or deny that his office received a complaint concerning Anderson because the process is secret until a complaint is filed and then charges are filed. A majority of the complaints that his office receives do not have merit and are not ever docked, he claimed.

“Anybody can file a complaint,” said the official. “You can file a complaint based on something you read in the newspaper.”

The copy of the request received through The Washington Post had the name and address of the person who had submitted the complaint, which was then redacted. Similar is the case with the version that was distributed online through the right-wing journalist Emerald Robinson.

The letter from De La Pena to YouTube also stated that the ethics complaint against Anderson is believed “to have been released by the Hamilton campaign or someone working in concert with their campaign” -which Hamilton’s campaign has denied.

Jonathon Nave, Hamilton’s campaign manager, did not respond to the defamation allegations or clarify why Anderson is “under investigation.” He instead stated in a press release that the the complaint was proof the fact that Anderson had been “a time bomb for Republicans in Virginia 7th.”

In the in the meantime in the meantime, in the meantime, Anderson Campaign hasn’t resisted making its own threats.

A recent ad by Anderson’s Anderson campaign “Secure the Border,” connects Hamilton an ex- Department of Homeland Security official and with “corrupt secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,” the President Biden’s nominee to run the department.

“Cameron Hamilton worked for the Biden administration,” the voiceover in the television and digital advertisement, which premiered around a week ago. “Mayorkas has brought in the influx of millions of illegals, defame Border Patrol agents, even was impeached. Cameron Hamilton served him.”

Hamilton has made clear his appointment to his DHS post to oversee emergency medical services under his time in the Trump administration. Even though his campaign acknowledged that he would continue to be in the position until summer 2023, he also tried to portray his resignation as a slam against Biden.

“I ultimately resigned while working under Secretary Mayorkas because I was disgusted at what I was seeing coming out from policy and out of the White House,” the former Secretary stated in a video that was uploaded to X the internet last month.

The video didn’t only put him in the middle -it also provided an insight into the battles and accusations that could follow in the primary race.

Hamilton said he would continue to work He said that he will continue to fight “no matter the lies that come out of D.C. or by swamp creatures.”