Cori Bush faces second campaign finance complaint over paying husband for security
Gabe Kaminsky
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“Squad” Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) is facing a second ethics complaint over her campaign paying a security guard who is now her husband.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, an ethics watchdog, demanded on March 2 that the Federal Election Commission investigate whether Bush violated federal law by paying her husband, Cortney Merritts, $60,000 in campaign funds in 2022. Now, the Committee to Defeat the President, a conservative super PAC, is alleging that the congresswoman violated multiple laws, arguing she has been “falsely reporting the purpose of the disbursements,” according to a Wednesday complaint.
CORI BUSH FACES ETHICS COMPLAINT AFTER USING CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO PAY HUSBAND FOR SECURITY SERVICES
“In typical Democrat fashion, ‘Squad’ member Cori Bush decided to pocket campaign contributions by paying her then-lover and now-husband for alleged work he is legally prohibited from doing,” Dan Backer, a Republican campaign finance lawyer for the Committee to Defeat the President, told the Washington Examiner. “In the process, Bush violated the clear Federal Election Commission prohibitions on personal inurement and lawful use of funds.”
“Her criminal act — unlawful in both Washington, D.C., and her own district — isn’t just an FEC matter; the Department of Justice and the Office of Congressional Ethics should also investigate Bush’s utter disregard for the law. That’s why the Committee to Defeat the President not only filed a more in-depth FEC complaint, detailing her precise criminal violations, but also sent the details to the DOJ and OCE,” Backer added.
In early February, Bush married Merritts in a private wedding ceremony. She made the campaign payments to Merritts between January 2022 and December 2022, according to FEC filings.
Both FACT and the Committee to Defeat the President harped on the fact that her husband does not have a private security license in St. Louis County or the city of St. Louis, which comprises Bush’s congressional district. While Merritts collected regular checks typically totaling $2,500 each, Bush’s campaign paid PEACE Security, a St. Louis company, over $225,000 for personal protection, filings show.
Her campaign has also steered $137,000 for “security services” since 2020 to Nathaniel Davis, a friend of the congresswoman who has claimed to be a 109 trillion-year-old spiritual guru, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
“It is highly unlikely Bush’s former lover and now husband, who is not licensed to provide security services and runs a moving company, provided $5,000 worth of security services for Bush every month throughout 2022, authentically bolstering the protection provided by the Capitol Police and the $225,000 of protection provided by PEACE Security (to say nothing of the otherwise unidentified Nathaniel Davis),” the Committee to Defeat the President wrote in its complaint.
Merritts is also the owner of a moving company called Vetted Movers, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has apparently contracted for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
“I’m at the Capitol offering to help Kevin McCarthy move his s*** out of the Speaker’s office and back into his own,” Merritts, whose Twitter is now private, posted on Jan. 3.
His Twitter bio reads: “Father and protector of two beautiful daughters. Army Vet. East St Louis born and raised. Black Lives Matter. Speak the truth, even when your voice shakes.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The FEC told the Washington Examiner it “cannot comment on potential or pending enforcement matters.”
Bush’s campaign did not return a request for comment.