INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Braun has been lying to voters about his fundraising for months, and they can’t say they weren’t warned, after Congressman Messer told Hoosiers during a televised debate that Rep. Braun said he “makes it up” on his campaign.

Rep. Braun spent months insisting that he’d would not self-fund his campaign in the general election, stating it again when he announced that he’d raised $2.5 million in the quarter and had out-raised Joe Donnelly for the quarter. But those claims were debunked by the Indy Star and WBND, among others, who examined his FEC report and found that he’s loaned himself at least $350K post-primary and only raised $1.4 million dollars this quarter. To top it off, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported that Rep. Braun had used debt retirement payments to skirt campaign finance laws and inflate his fundraising in a scheme similar to one referred to by an expert as a “legal form of money laundering.”

Rep. Braun’s repeated lies in this race may be striking, but they’re nothing new for him. During the primary, Congressman Messer called out Rep. Braun on a televised debate stage for lying, recalling a time he confronted Rep. Braun about the “many of his lies in his campaign” about Messer’s record. Rep. Braun apparently responded to the accusation by stating, “You know what Luke? In this game, everybody makes it up.”

Watch here:

“Rep. Braun may think it’s acceptable to simply ‘make it up,’ but Hoosiers certainly don’t agree. Congressman Messer’s words are a stark reminder that Rep. Braun habitually lies to Hoosiers about his own record and his opponents,” said Michael Feldman, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “Time and again, Rep. Braun has proved that he’s willing to say anything to get elected, no matter how many lies it takes.”

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