Squad member Ilhan Omar demands GOP Rep. Troy Nehls apologize for calling Cori Bush ‘loud’ after it was revealed she used campaign funds for security – claiming it is a ‘racist trope’

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar called GOP Congressman Troy Nehls racist on Tuesday after calling her fellow “Squad” member Cori Bush “loud.”

Bush is currently under investigation by the DOJ for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign money on personal security, including services provided by her current husband.

Earlier this week, Bush confirmed that she was under investigation and that her team was cooperating with the Justice Department.

Nehls of Texas criticized Bush, who was elected in 2020 in part on a platform of defunding police:

“She doesn’t even support the police. But the idea of ​​paying her criminal money to help her protect this and that, for what?

“If she wasn’t so loud all the time, maybe she wouldn’t get threats,” he said.

Omar, a Bush ally who is currently dealing with her own scandal, came to her friend’s defense, calling Nehls’ language “racist.”

“The loud black woman figure is racist and tired. The Congressman must apologize and all members of Congress must condemn him,” Omar wrote on X.

“No one in our government deserves to be threatened, no matter how loudly they advocate their positions, and victim blaming for intimidation and threats cannot be tolerated.”

When asked by a CNN reporter whether Bush “deserves” to be threatened, Nehls responded:

‘No, what I’m saying is that if you talk like she does… she’s quite radical. And maybe she should take it easy.”

The Missouri lawmaker, who married one of her bodyguards, has spent more than $750,000 on security since her 2020 campaign account.

“I can confirm that the Department of Justice is reviewing my campaign’s spending on security services. We are cooperating fully with this investigation,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Since before I was sworn in, I have endured relentless threats to my physical safety and life,” she told reporters on the steps of the House of Representatives.

She added that as a “regular member of Congress” she is not entitled to personal protection.

Like Bush, Omar also funneled campaign money to her husband.

In 2021, the Somali-American politician paid $2.9 million to her husband’s consulting firm, which amounted to 80 percent of the company’s revenue.

Bush claims she used campaign funds to hire security services, including her husband, who she said has “extensive” experience in this field.

“I have not used federal tax dollars for personal security services. Any report that I used federal funds for personal security is simply false,” she emphasized.

Bush, who has supported calls to dismantle the police and advocated for reparations for black people, now faces a federal investigation into her staggering spending.

The Justice Department on Monday subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records related to the misuse of private security funds.

When confronted by the media Monday evening, Bush insisted she was not the subject of the investigation and scolded reporters for asking the question.

The investigation follows an ethics watchdog demanding an investigation into the $62,000 she paid her current husband Cortney Merritts from her campaign funds.

The nonpartisan Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) asked Lisa Stevenson, acting general counsel of the FEC, to investigate 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 the Ethics Commission are also investigating the matter.

“These frivolous complaints have led to a number of investigations, some of which are still ongoing. The Federal Election Commission and the House Committee on Ethics are currently investigating the matter, as is the Department of Justice. We are cooperating fully with all these ongoing investigations,” Bush said.

“It appears that Rep.’s campaign Bush made payments for services that were unnecessary or in excess of fair market value because of her personal relationship with the beneficiary,” FACT Director Kendra Arnold said in the complaint.

“If so, these payments would qualify as impermissible payments to a family member or as an impermissible gift.

Although hiring relatives is frowned upon, it is not illegal. It would only be illegal if her current husband were forcibly paid above “fair market value.”

Payments to family members must be for ‘bona fide services’ related to their official duties.

“In accordance with all applicable regulations, I have hired my husband as part of my security team to provide security services because he has extensive experience in this field and is able to provide the necessary services at or below fair market rates,” Bush said. insisted.

“We therefore request that the FEC investigate whether Rep. Bush diverted campaign funds for personal use by paying a salary that was not intended for bona fide services at fair market value,” FACT wrote.

“If it is ultimately determined that one or more campaign laws have been violated, we urge the FEC to hold 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 also reportedly was not licensed to practice security in Washington, DC

Bush, 47, initially came under fire in 2021 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 there have been 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 ten 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 needs to happen.” We need to defund the police and put that money into social safety nets because we are trying to save lives.”

Two St. Louis police officers were subsequently fired for targeting her security team without permission from their superiors.

Bush’s campaign paid Merritts 24 biweekly installments of $2,500 for security services in 2022. It paid another $250,000 to PEACE Security, a St. Louis-based company, and $50,000 to Nathaniel Davis, according to FEC records.

“Any time a member of Congress puts someone with a close personal relationship on the campaign payroll, more oversight is needed to ensure that the legal standard has been met, which in this case is that the payments were for ‘bona fide services in a fair market’. value,” Arnold said in a statement.

“Both the fact that Bush’s husband is reportedly not licensed to provide security services for which he was paid, and the fact that she was simultaneously paying large sums to another company for the same services, raise red flags that warrant an investigation by the FEC ‘, she says. added.