The Army Reserve has confirmed to WRAL that it has opened an investigation into Cal
Cunningham, North Carolina’s Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate.
"The Army Reserve is investigating the matters involving Lt. Col. James Cunningham. As such, we are unable to provide further details at this time," said Simon B. Flake, chief of media relations and public information for the Army Reserve Strategic Communications.
Cunningham last week admitted to texting Arlene Guzman Todd, a public relations strategist. Texts obtained by WRAL and verified by The Associated Press offer new insight into a long-distance relationship.
“I just want to [expletive] him one last time and break his heart,” one text from Guzman Todd reads.
Another says: “Trying to make plans to see the politician so I can give him the [expletive] of his life and then walk away.”
In a series of interviews with the AP late Monday, as well as in the text messages, Arlene Guzman Todd described two in-person encounters with Cunningham: one in March in Los Angeles that she said did not include intimate contact and a second in July in North Carolina, where she said they were intimate.
NationalFile.com reported last week that Guzman Todd is married to a service member, which makes Cunningham’s admitted conduct a serious breach of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the duties of an officer.
A new tranche of explicit text messages obtained by Patrick Howley for NationalFile.com show that North Carolina Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham’s mistress Arlene Guzman Todd has naked photos of Cunningham, and that Cunningham and Guzman Todd had sex in Cunningham’s family home.
In one photo sent by Guzman Todd to a friend, she captioned “Likes getting oral. Will travel. And has lips too.”
After the release of the sexually charged text messages and the revelation that Mrs. Guzman Todd spent a week at the Cunningham residence Republican Senator Thom Tillis issued this rather restrained statement via Twitter:
Cal Cunningham is now under investigation by the U.S. Army Reserve. He owes North Carolinians a full explanation. The truth still matters in North Carolina, Cal.
Senator Tillis later spoke with WRAL’s David Crabtree about the latest developments in the race and noted that Democrat Cal Cunningham has refused to speak to the media after the latest revelations.
In the brotherhood of arms, Cunningham’s conduct has been recognized as a crime for some 3,000 years, ever since King David lusted after Bathsheba, the wife of one of his officers, Uriah the Hittite, whom 2 Samuel tells us David sent to the front lines where the fighting was fiercest to be killed in battle so that he could make Bathsheba his eighth wife.
What is even more despicable about Democrat Cunningham’s behavior is he has based much of his campaign on his military service. And if Cunningham is court martialed and the affair proven with a woman whose husband was enlisted and under his command or supervision, he could face military justice for (at a minimum) conduct unbecoming an officer – if it is proven Cunningham acted to advantage or disadvantage to Guzman Todd’s husband there could be further charges.
Were Cunningham to be court-martialed (as the facts indicate he should be) under Article 134 of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice), a conviction for extra-marital sexual conduct with the wife of subordinate carries with penalties including a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for up to one year.
The sexting is prima facia evidence of Democrat Cal Cunningham’s conduct unbecoming an officer – the big question now is how will the Army deal with it?
Will Cunningham get a pass and the special two-tiered system of justice that allowed Hunter Biden to get a general discharge after he tested positive for cocaine, rather than the court martial he deserved. Will Cunningham be allowed to retire with no disadvantage to his pension or status? And how will North Carolina’s military-heavy voters feel about this vile breach of the brotherhood of arms’ 3,000-year-old code of conduct?
George Rasley is Managing Editor of Richard Viguerie’s ConservativeHQ.com. An Army brat born at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, he served as spokesman for retiring Congressman Mac Thornberry, former Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
2020 Election
North Carolina senate race
Thom Tillis
Democrats
Cal Cunningham
text messages
sexting
Jeremy Todd
conduct unbecoming
dishonorable discharge