“Squad” member and Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush might be in deep trouble, as the Department of Justice has reportedly launched a criminal probe into her. The probe aims to discern if she misspent federal funds when she hired her husband to be part of her security team.
Rep. Bush, for her part, has defended her spending and flatly denied the allegations. According to Rep. Bush, she used campaign funds for security, which she felt was necessary because of “relentless threats” to her life. Among those she hired for the protective services team was her husband. She admitted to hiring him for the security detail.
Tweeting about the matter when it broke was Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News, who posted, “🚨BREAKING NEWS — THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting a criminal probe into @CoriBush, according to six sources familiar with the investigation. The Justice Department subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records relating to the misspending of federal security money.”
Rep. Bush, for her part, released a statement in which she claimed to be completely innocent. She said, “First and foremost, I hold myself, my campaign, and my position to the highest levels of integrity. I also believe in transparency which is why I can confirm that the Department of Justice is reviewing my campaign’s spending on security services. We are fully cooperating in this investigation, and I would like to take this opportunity to outline the facts and the truth.”
Continuing, she justified the large amount of spending on a security team and said that no federal dollars had been used for it: “Since before I was sworn into office, I have endured relentless threats to my physical safety and life. As a rank-and-file member of Congress I am not entitled to personal protection by the House, and instead have used campaign funds as permissible to retain security services. I have not used any federal tax dollars for personal security services. Any reporting that I have used federal funds for personal security is simply false.”
Then, doing the usual thing for Democrats, she blamed the “right-wing” for the accusations and claimed to have done nothing wrong. She said, “In recent months, right-wing organizations have lodged baseless complaints against me, peddling notions that I have misused campaign funds to pay for personal security services. That is simply not true. I have complied with all applicable laws and House rules-and will continue to prioritize the rules that govern us as federal elected officials.”
She then addressed the issue of her husband being employed on the security detail, saying, “In particular, the nature of these allegations have been around my husband’s role on the campaign. In accordance with all applicable rules, I retained my husband as part of my security team to provide security services because he has had extensive experience in this area, and is able to provide the necessary services at or below a fair market rate. These frivolous complaints have resulted in a number of investigations, some of which are still ongoing. The Federal Election Commission and the House Committee on Ethics are currently reviewing the matter, as is the Department of Justice. We are fully cooperating in all of these pending investigations. In September of last year, after conducting a months-long investigation, the Office of Congressional Ethics found no wrongdoing and voted unanimously to dismiss the case. I look forward to this same outcome from all pending investigations. I am under no illusion that these right-wing organizations will stop politicizing and pursuing efforts to attack me and the work that the people of St. Louis sent me to Congress to do: to lead boldly, to legislate change my constituents can feel, and to save lives.”
The right-wing group to which Rep. Bush was likely referring is a nonpartisan watchdog group called the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT). It petitioned the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate Bush over the security detail, alleging both that she hired her husband for it and that she used a mixture of federal and campaign dollars for the team.
FACT executive director Kendra Arnold, the complaint against Rep. Bush, wrote, “It appears Rep. Bush’s campaign may have made payments for services that were unnecessary or above fair market value because of her personal relationship with the payee. If so, these payments would qualify as either impermissible payments to a family member or an impermissible gift.”
Arnold continued, “While hiring family members is frowned upon, it is not illegal. It would only be illegal if Bush paid her now-spouse over ‘fair market value.’ Payments to family members must be for ‘bonafide services’ related to their official duties.” FACT then wrote, “Therefore, we request the FEC investigate whether Rep. Bush converted campaign funds for personal use by paying a salary that was not for bona fide services at fair market value.”
Featured image credit: By Photo News 247, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92900980
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