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  • Lawmaker resigns after Instagramming his suspicious spending

    by 
    Mariella Moon
    Mariella Moon
    03.18.2015

    One of GOP's rising stars has resigned from Congress, in part because his own Instagram posts have given rise to constant questions about his expenditures. Illinois representative Aaron Schock lived a lavish lifestyle while he was a government official, and he used to make sure the world knew that by posting snapshots of his escapades on his Instagram account. Little did he know that AP would extract location data from photos of his frequent travels in order to link them to instances when he illegally used taxpayer money to rent private jets. For instance, the news agency determined that Schock rented a plane for his trip to the Capitol in 2013, because he posted a photo of his Schocktoberfest fundraising event when he got back to Peoria, Illinois. The dates lined up with the $11,433 transportation amount he billed his office.