GOP Senate Frontrunner’s Top Aide May Have Illegally Abused Resources, Given Special Favors, Ethics Watchdog Says

A new Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC) report released Monday alleges that Brandon Phillips, a top aide to Senate candidate Republican Georgia Rep. Mike Collins, hired a district intern with whom he had a “preexisting personal romantic relationship.”

The OCC report, which was released by the House Ethics Committee, alleges that Phillips — who had served as his chief of staff for nearly three years — may have “discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges” by participating in retaining an employee with whom he had a “personal relationship.” The report also alleges the intern “did not perform duties commensurate with her compensation.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE — Mike Collins Takes Early Lead In Georgia Senate Showdown — But Plurality Of Voters Are Undecided)

“Brandon Phillips may have used congressional resources for unofficial or otherwise unauthorized purposes. If Mr. Phillips used congressional resources for unofficial or otherwise unauthorized purposes, then Mr. Phillips may have violated federal law, House rules, and standards of conduct,” the report states. “If Mr. Phillips discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges, then Mr. Phillips may have violated House rules and standards of conduct.”

“This bogus complaint is a sad attempt to derail one of Georgia’s most effective conservative legislators in Congress,” a spokesperson for Collins’ office said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Rep. Collins looks forward to providing the House Ethics Committee all factual information and putting these meritless allegations to rest.”

Collins’ office: “This bogus complaint is a sad attempt to derail one of Georgia’s most effective conservative legislators in Congress. Rep. Collins looks forward to providing the House Ethics Committee all factual information and putting these meritless allegations to rest.” https://t.co/rUh1DR9NcJ

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) January 5, 2026

LegiStorm lists Phillips as a senior policy adviser to Collins since January 2026, and notes that he served as the congressman’s chief of staff from January 2023 — the month Collins took office — to December 2025.

The House Ethics Committee said in a Monday news release that it had received a referral from the OCC about Collins’ office on Oct. 7, 2025, and had later extended its review of the matter in November of the same year. The committee added that it will refrain from making any further public statements on the matter “pending completion of its initial review.”

The OCC is “an independent, non-partisan entity charged with reviewing allegations of misconduct against Members, officers, and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives and, when appropriate, referring matters to the House Committee on Ethics,” according to its website.

The newly released report comes after some recent polls have shown Collins emerging as the frontrunner in Georgia’s 2026 Republican Senate primary, where he is one of three major GOP candidates vying for a chance to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Collins’ campaign had raised roughly $1.9 million in the third quarter of 2025, the DCNF first reported on Oct. 5, 2025.

Collins wrote in a post to X on Monday afternoon that “this is the year we give President Trump one more vote in the Senate and Georgians a Senator that puts us first.”

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