Campaign payments from “squad” member Rep. Cori Bush to her husband, Cortney Merritts, that have put her in the crosshairs of the Justice Department, continued in December, newly released documents show.
The Bush (D-Mo.) campaign compensated Merritts an additional $17,500 in seven separate payments for “salary expenses” during the fourth quarter of 2023, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The new money adds to the roughly $105,209 disbursed to Merritts by the Bush campaign over the past two years, bringing the grand total to about $122,710.
As of Dec. 31, 2023, the Bush campaign had about $215,571 in cash on hand, according to FEC records.
Bush, 47, has been an outspoken supporter of the so-called “Defund the Police” movement, while defending that her campaign spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on private security.
Recent FEC filings show Cori Bush’s campaign doled out an additional $17,500 to her husband during the last quarter.
On Tuesday, Bush confirmed that the Justice Department “is reviewing my campaign’s spending on security services.” The revelation came after the House sergeant-at-arms sent a notice informing Congress that he had received a federal subpoena, without providing further details.
Over the past two years, Bush’s payments to Merritts, whom he married in February 2023, were generally listed as “security services” or “salary expenses,” with some minor reimbursements for miscellaneous items such as “gas expenses.” .
Merritts’ previous social media posts, which appear to have since been deleted, showed him traveling with her since at least early 2021.
Under FEC rules, campaigns can only make payments to family members for “good faith” services. AP
Bush insisted this week that she “hired my husband as part of my security team to provide security services because he has extensive experience in this area and is able to provide the necessary services at or below fair market rates.” “.
Fox News Digital reported last year that Merritts had not been licensed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to perform private security since 2012.
Multiple conservative watchdogs examined Bush’s campaign payments to her husband, and the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust filed an ethics complaint in March.
Merritts was paid despite not having a private security license as required by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department since 2012. Cortney Merritts/Facebook
Bush confirmed this week that he also faces an investigation by the FEC and the House Ethics Committee into the matter.
The congresswoman’s campaign also paid $380,948 to a St. Louis-based company called PEACE Security from 2019 to June 2023, $73,807 to RS&T Security Consulting in 2021, and $164,838 to a man named Nathaniel Davis between 2020 and June 2023. 2023.
That adds up to more than $740,000 between Merritts and the private companies.
Cori Bush’s campaign declined to comment further on the situation. Cortney Merritts/Facebook
Most of those payments were listed as “Security Services” with some miscellaneous expenses such as gas and transportation costs included.
Since last year, his campaign changed the language used to describe disbursements to Merritts from “Security Services” to “Salary Expenses.”
“Unfortunately, after our complaint was filed, Representative Bush changed the language in her disclosure describing ongoing payments to her husband to something amorphous and vague, ‘salary payments,’ which at a minimum is contrary to the purpose of the law to clearly describe the purposes of campaign disbursements,” FACT Executive Director Kendra Arnold said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors are launching a criminal investigation against progressive Rep. Cori Bush. Twitter / @CortneyMerritt4
“Our hope, as always with our complaints, is that a thorough and fair investigation will reveal the truth of the matter and whether any legal violations have occurred.”
Bush has repeatedly stated that high security spending is necessary because of threats against him.
“As a rank-and-file member of Congress, I am not entitled to personal protection from the House and have instead used campaign funds as permitted to hire security services. “I have not used any federal tax money for personal security services,” she said this week.
Last fall, the Congressional Ethics Office Board unanimously recommended that Bush be acquitted of an ethics complaint over disbursements to her husband.
Cori Bush has called for a ceasefire in Israel. Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
In the wake of the death of George Floyd in May 2020, which sparked a wave of national protests and a reckoning over race, Bush endorsed efforts to “defund the police.”
“I’m going to make sure I have security because I know there’s been an attempt on my life and I have a lot of work to do,” he told CBS News in August 2021. “So, if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend…$10 more on it, do I? did you know? “I can be here to do the job.”
“So, hang in there, and the police have to be defunded,” Bush added. “We need to defund the police and put that money into social safety nets because we’re trying to save lives.”
The Bush campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Democrat is running for a third term in the House in 2024, but faces a primary challenge from St. Louis County Attorney Wesley Bell.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn