The progressive Squad Rep. Cori Bush is under investigation by the Justice Department for alleged misuse of public funds intended for private security.
Punchbowl News first reported that DOJ is conducting the criminal investigation into Bush.
On Monday, the Justice Department subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms over records of the misuse of federal security funds.
A watchdog has demanded that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigate the $62,000 that Rep. Cori Bush paid her current husband as a security guard from her campaign account.
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 recently announced 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.
A watchdog has demanded that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigate the $62,000 that Rep. Cori Bush paid her current security guard husband from her campaign account
“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.
It was recently revealed that Bush, R-Mo., married Cortney Merritts in a private ceremony last month
“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 did not have a security clearance in Washington, DC
Bush, 46, is back in the spotlight after being criticized 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.”
Last year, Merritts was on the payroll of her re-election campaign
Cori Bush + Cortney Merritts together at the 2020 Inauguration
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.
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.