An advocacy group wants the Justice Department to investigate the vice chair of President Donald Trump's voter integrity commission.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit watchdog group, filed a complaint Tuesday with the Justice Department's Federal Programs Branch asking for an investigation into whether Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is also running for governor there, violated federal conflict of interest laws.

The complaint said conservative news organization Breitbart paid Kobach, the vice chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, to write a column about voter fraud in his official capacity. CREW said that, if this is true, it could violate ethics laws.

“Because Secretary Kobach agreed with Breitbart News to write a column for official Commission use, knowing he would be paid for the column, he appears to have participated in a particular matter in which he had a financial interest, conduct that may have violated 18 U.S.C. § 208,” the complaint said.

That statute, it said, bars any “executive branch employee from participating personally and substantially in a particular Government matter that will affect his own financial interests.” This prohibition, according to the Office of Government Ethics website, “has no de minimis level. That is, it applies where any financial interest exists, no matter how small.”

The complaint said Kobach published a column for Breitbart on Sept. 7 about election integrity, suggesting there were more than 5,000 fraudulent votes cast in New Hampshire in the 2016 elections. The bottom of the column notes Kobach is the vice chair of the voter commission. The column was then listed as part of the meeting materials for the commission's first meeting on Sept. 12 and Kobach “set aside approximately 20 minutes of the meeting to discuss it,” according to the complaint.

The complaint said the “timing, context, content and use” of the column suggest Kobach received compensation from Breitbart for something he wrote in his official capacity.

A spokeswoman for Kobach did not immediately return a request for comment.

In a statement, CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said Kobach's actions “appear to undermine” the principle that “official actions of government employees should be free from any actual or apparent influence from outside financial interests.”

The commission, created in May, has all but ceased to operate, as it's been mired in controversy and stunted by litigation. Additionally, one of its own members, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, sued the commission earlier this month alleging it excluded him from its work because he's a Democrat. The Government Accountability Office is also slated to begin an investigation into the commission in the coming months.

An advocacy group wants the Justice Department to investigate the vice chair of President Donald Trump's voter integrity commission.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit watchdog group, filed a complaint Tuesday with the Justice Department's Federal Programs Branch asking for an investigation into whether Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is also running for governor there, violated federal conflict of interest laws.

The complaint said conservative news organization Breitbart paid Kobach, the vice chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, to write a column about voter fraud in his official capacity. CREW said that, if this is true, it could violate ethics laws.

“Because Secretary Kobach agreed with Breitbart News to write a column for official Commission use, knowing he would be paid for the column, he appears to have participated in a particular matter in which he had a financial interest, conduct that may have violated 18 U.S.C. § 208,” the complaint said.

That statute, it said, bars any “executive branch employee from participating personally and substantially in a particular Government matter that will affect his own financial interests.” This prohibition, according to the Office of Government Ethics website, “has no de minimis level. That is, it applies where any financial interest exists, no matter how small.”

The complaint said Kobach published a column for Breitbart on Sept. 7 about election integrity, suggesting there were more than 5,000 fraudulent votes cast in New Hampshire in the 2016 elections. The bottom of the column notes Kobach is the vice chair of the voter commission. The column was then listed as part of the meeting materials for the commission's first meeting on Sept. 12 and Kobach “set aside approximately 20 minutes of the meeting to discuss it,” according to the complaint.

The complaint said the “timing, context, content and use” of the column suggest Kobach received compensation from Breitbart for something he wrote in his official capacity.

A spokeswoman for Kobach did not immediately return a request for comment.

In a statement, CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said Kobach's actions “appear to undermine” the principle that “official actions of government employees should be free from any actual or apparent influence from outside financial interests.”

The commission, created in May, has all but ceased to operate, as it's been mired in controversy and stunted by litigation. Additionally, one of its own members, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, sued the commission earlier this month alleging it excluded him from its work because he's a Democrat. The Government Accountability Office is also slated to begin an investigation into the commission in the coming months.