Squad member and progressive Democratic Rep. Cori Bush denied she misused funds for private security and blamed ‘right-wing organizations’ for spurring the Justice Department investigation into her campaign’s spending.
The Missouri lawmaker, who married one of her bodyguards, has spent more than $750,000 on security since she was elected in 2020 out of her campaign account.
‘I can confirm that the Department of Justice is reviewing my campaign’s spending on security services. We are fully cooperating in this investigation,’ she said in a statement.
‘Since before I was sworn into office, I have endured relentless threats to my physical safety and life,’ she told reporters on the House steps.
She added that as a ‘rank-and-file member of Congress’ she is not entitled to personal protection.
Instead, she claims she has used campaign funds to retain security services, including her husband who she said has ‘extensive’ experience in the field.
‘I have not used any federal tax dollars for personal security services. Any reporting that I have used federal funds for personal security is simply false,’ she insisted.
A watchdog has demanded the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigate the $62,000 Rep. Cori Bush paid her now-husband as a security guard from her campaign account
Bush, who has backed calls to defund the police and advocated reparations for African Americans, is now facing a federal probe into her staggering expenditure.
The Justice Department on Monday subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records related to the misuse of funds for private security.
When confronted by the media on Monday night, Bush insisted she wasn’t the subject of the investigation and scolded reporters for asking the question.
The investigation follows an ethics watchdog demanding an investigating into the $62,000 she paid her now-husband Cortney Merritts from her campaign funds.
The nonpartisan Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) asked FEC acting general counsel Lisa Stevenson to look into whether Squad member and BLM activist Bush ‘used campaign funds for personal use.’
It was revealed that Bush, D-Mo., married Cortney Merritts in a private ceremony in early 2023. In 2022 he was on the payroll of her re-election campaign.
Bush confirmed that the FEC and Ethics Committee are also investigating the matter.
‘These frivolous complaints have resulted in a number of investigations, some of which are still ongoing. The Federal Election Commission and the House Committee on Ethics are currently reviewing the matter, as is the Department of Justice. We are fully cooperating in all of these pending investigations,’ Bush said.
‘It appears Rep. Bush’s campaign may have made payments for services that were unnecessary or above fair market value because of her personal relationship with the payee,’ FACT executive director Kendra Arnold said in the complaint.
‘If so, these payments would qualify as either impermissible payments to a family member or an impermissible gift.
While hiring family members is frowned upon, it is not illegal. It would only be illegal if push paid her now-spouse over ‘fair market value.’
Payments to family members must be for ‘bonafide services’ related to their official duties.
‘In accordance with all applicable rules, I retained my husband as part of my security team to provide security services because he has had extensive experience in this area, and is able to provide the necessary services at or below a fair market rate,’ Bush insisted.
It was recently revealed that Bush, R-Mo., married Cortney Merritts in a private ceremony last month
‘Therefore, we request the FEC investigate whether Rep. Bush converted campaign funds for personal use by paying a salary that was not for bona fide services at fair market value,’ FACT wrote.
‘Ultimately, if one or more campaign laws are found to have been broken, we request the FEC hold the respondents accountable.’
Merritts was paid as Bush’s security guard despite not having a license – which is required by the St. Louis Police Department, according to a Fox News report. Merritts was reportedly also not licensed for security in Washington, D.C.
Bush, 47, is back in the spotlight after in 2021 she took heat for spending $500,000 on private security despite her impassioned pleas to ‘defund the police.’
‘I’m going to make sure I have security because I know I have had attempts on my life and I have too much work to do,’ the former Black Lives Matter activist told CBS News in August 2021. ‘So, if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend … 10 more dollars on it, you know what? I get to be here to do the work.’
‘So, suck it up,’ she added, ‘defunding the police has to happen. We need to defund the police and put that money into social safety nets because we’re trying to save lives.’
Last year Merritts was on the payroll of her re-election campaign
Cori Bush + Cortney Merritts together at the 2020 inauguration
Two St. Louis cops were then fired for moonlighting on her security team without getting permission from their superiors.
Bush’s campaign paid Merritts 24 bi-weekly installments of $2,500 in 2022 for security services. It paid another $250,000 to PEACE Security, a St. Louis-based firm, and $50,000 to a Nathaniel Davis, according to FEC records.
‘Any time a member of Congress puts someone with a close personal relationship on the campaign payroll, increased scrutiny is necessary to ensure the legal standard has been met, which in this case is that the payments were for ‘bona fide services at a fair market value,” Arnold said in a statement.
‘Both the fact that reportedly Bush’s husband isn’t licensed to provide security services for which he was paid, and that she was simultaneously paying large amounts to another company for the same services raise red flags that warrant an investigation by the FEC,’ she added.
Bush is not the first ‘Squad’ member to hire her husband – Rep. Ilhan Omar funneled $2.9 million to a consulting firm run by her husband in 2021, which amounted to 80 percent of the company’s revenue.