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.”

“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.”

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.