The Senate Ethics Committee admonishes Senator Lindsey Graham for soliciting campaign contributions at a federal building after a November Fox News interview in which he asked viewers to donate to a GOP candidate.

Graham (RS.C.) violated Senate rules and standards of conduct because he was in a Senate office building when he did the interview, the bipartisan ethics panel leaders said in a rare public letter released Thursday.

The public must be confident that members will use public funds only for official actions in the interests of the United States, not for partisan political activity, wrote Chris Coons, chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee (D-Del.) and Senator James. Lankford (R-Okla.), the Republican vice chairman of the panel. Your actions fell short of that standard, resulting in damage to public trust in the United States Senate. You are hereby admonished.

Coons and Lankford wrote that during the November 30 interview on Fox News, Graham asked five times for campaign contributions to Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign committee. They noted that Graham reported himself to the committee after the interview was over.

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In a statement Thursday, Graham said: It was a mistake. I take responsibility. I will try to do better in the future.

It is unclear whether Graham could face criminal penalties for his actions. Coons and Lankford said this was the senator’s second offense after he similarly solicited campaign contributions for his own campaign during an unscheduled 2020 hallway interview.

The ethics committee rejected that complaint and notified Graham in a private letter, Coons and Lankford wrote. The panel has so far not publicly disclosed that violation, having determined at the time that his conduct was inadvertent, technical or otherwise de minimis in nature,” the letter said.

The ban on campaign solicitations in federal buildings and the use of federal funds for campaign activities has been consistent and clear throughout your years of service in the Senate, they wrote, and Graham asked for the campaign contributions in the November interview, despite the committee’s specific guidelines after your offense. in October 2020.”