New documents reveal that Cori Bush’s husband raised $120,000 in campaign dollars to be her personal security guard, as the Justice Department has launched an investigation into alleged misuse of such funds.
New payment documents show Bush paid her husband an additional $17,500 in 2023.
The latest filings from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) detail seven additional $2,500 payments between October 1 and December 31, 2023. Bush’s campaign paid Merritts 24 biweekly installments of $2,500 for security services in 2022.
The Justice Department on Monday subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records related to the misuse of private security funds.
New documents reveal Cori Bush’s husband raised $120,000 in campaign dollars to be her personal security guard — as the Justice Department has launched an investigation into alleged misuse of such funds
In April 2023, the congresswoman began classifying her payments as “payroll costs,” after previously listing them as “security services.”
Bush, a member of the Progressive Squad and an outspoken advocate for defunding the police and reparations, has spent more than $770,000 on private security.
Bush and Merritts married in February 2023, and her office revealed they were together before she took office in 2021.
Bush claimed Tuesday that her husband has “extensive experience” in the security sector and that he is “able to provide necessary services at or below a fair market rate.”
But it was not immediately clear what training or “extensive” experience Merritts has in the security industry after his time in the military.
Merritts is the owner of a moving company called Vetted Movers, according to his LinkedIn account.
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.”
Merritts pocketed the money, while Bush paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to St. Louis-based security companies like PEACE Security for private data.
The 47-year-old Bush confirmed this week that in addition to the DOJ, the FEC and the Ethics Commission are also investigating possible misuse of campaign funds.
“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.
The investigations came after the watchdog group Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed a complaint requesting an investigation into Bush’s spending.
“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.
The congresswoman faced criticism from Republicans this week over the investigation — and she demanded that Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, apologize after calling her “loud” and her husband a “thug.”
“She doesn’t even support the police. But the idea of paying her rogue money to help her protect this and that, for what?’ Nehls told CNN. “If she wasn’t so loud all the time, maybe she wouldn’t get threats.”
Bush, center right, with her husband Merritts, right, Rep. AOC, center left, and AOC’s fiancée, left
“(Nehls) just called my husband, a black man and army veteran, a thug. And I’m the loud black woman who has to stay silent to be safe from violence, or else? This is the kind of rhetoric that puts black lives at risk. He needs to apologize.”
The Missouri Democrat was criticized in 2021 for her major security spending in 2021 — while waging war on police funding.
“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.”
Bush isn’t the first “Squad” member to hire her husband. Rep. Ilhan Omar funneled $2.9 million into a consulting firm led by her husband in 2021, amounting to 80 percent of the company’s revenue.