‘Substantial reason to believe’ AOC violated ethics, committee says

There is ‘substantial reason to believe’ that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez violated ethics with her attendance at the Met Gala in 2021, ethics investigators said.

The Office of Congressional Ethics board is focusing on the ‘impermissible gifts’ she potentially received and said the investigation into the Squad member should continue.

It comes more than a year after a number of conservative groups asked the committee to look into the New York Democratic congresswoman being comped $35,000 Met Gala tickets and sporting a designer-made ‘Tax the Rich’ dress.

A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez told Forbes that when the investigation began in December, she was confident the case would be dismissed.

‘The Congresswoman has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interests,’ AOC’s spokesperson said.

At least three conservative groups filed complaints with the House Ethics Committee after Ocasio-Cortez attended the Met Gala on September 13, 2021.

According to the nonpartisan ethics agency, AOC’s staff didn’t pay for her rental dress, makeup, and other accessories in a timely way. Comments from the Wall Group, which represented the makeup artist, claimed the progressive firebrand didn’t pay her $477 styling bill until February 2022 – nearly a year after the gala said Business Insider.

In an interview with the investigators, Ocasio-Cortez blamed a campaign staffer for failing to pay for her rented dress and other accessories, according to ethics office findings. 

‘And I just never, ever, ever would have allowed that to happen knowing what I have learned, but that I wasn’t privy to the invoices, wasn’t privy to the ones that had been sent,’ she told investigators, ‘And it is just a deeply regrettable situation. I feel l terrible for especially the small businesses that were impacted.’

She did acknowledge to investigators that ‘there was a ball that was dropped.’

In a statement, David Mitrani, Ocasio-Cortez’s lawyer, said the congresswoman ‘finds these [payment] delays unacceptable, and she has taken several steps to ensure nothing of this nature will ever happen again.’

‘However, while regrettable, this matter definitively does not rise to the level of a violation of House Rules or of federal law. Even after OCE’s exhaustive review of the Congresswoman’s personal communications, there is no evidence that she ever intended to avoid these expenses,’ the statement continued.

‘We are confident the Committee on Ethics will dismiss this matter.’  

 The probe is being continued, according to the Office of Congressional Ethics.