SAN DIEGO, July 4 (UPI) -- Rep. Randy Cunningham, R-Calif., whose dealings with a defense contractor are the subject of a grand jury probe, canceled his public Fourth of July schedule.
Cunningham's scheduled speech near San Diego would have been his first public appearance since the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office and a grand jury began looking into his dealings with MZM last month.
"It is clear from all the advanced publicity that any Fourth of July celebration he is scheduled to attend will become a media frenzy," Cunningham aide Mark Olson told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Defense Criminal Investigation Service and the U.S. Attorney's office searched Cunningham's San Diego-area home Friday. Agents also searched MZM's Washington, D.C., offices and the boat Cunningham has been living on at Washington's Capitol Yacht Club.
MZM received millions of dollars in federal contracts after its owner Mitchell Wade bought Cunningham's former San Diego-area home in October 2003. Wade paid $1.675 million for the home, then sold it for a loss of $700,000.
Cunningham has admitted using poor judgment, but denies he has done anything to steer defense contracts to MZM.
