Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) reportedly married a man who was a security guard for her campaign, with her team paying him more than $60,000 last year in direct payments.
Bush, known for being a member of the “Squad,” tied the knot with Cortney Merritts last weekend in a private ceremony in St. Louis, according to news outlet KSDK. The campaign expenses could potentially raise questions from the Federal Election Commission and the Congressional Ethics Office, as federal law and House ethics rules prohibit the use of campaign funds for personal use.
“Campaign funds are not to be used to enhance a Member’s lifestyle, or to pay a Member’s personal obligations,” House ethics rules say. “Members have wide discretion in determining what constitutes a bona fide campaign or political purpose to which campaign funds and resources may be devoted, but Members have no discretion whatsoever to convert campaign funds to personal use.”
Bush was first elected in 2020 and assumed office at the start of 2021. Since she began spending significant money on security guards in August 2020, her campaign has spent $627,088 on security-related expenses, per KSDK, $62,359 of which went to Merritts last year.
Bush has been criticized for her calls to “defund the police” and then seen as hypocritical for taking that stance while shelling out so much money for her own security and safety. She previously pushed back on comments against her high expenditure on security in 2021 after Fox News noted that the congresswoman was paying for private security. The security was because people had made death threats against her in the past, Bush said.
“They would rather I die?” Bush asked CBS News in 2021. “You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die? You know, because that could be the alternative.”
The St. Louis news outlet reported that Merritts’s social media posts show he traveled with Bush on her trips to her first inauguration in January 2021, to the Ed Sullivan Theater for her appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and to Central America on a trip with a Congressional delegation.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Other “Squad” members have also paid thousands of dollars for private security despite pushes to defund the police.
