The financial dealings of Cori Bush, the Black Lives Matter champion turned Congresswoman, have caught the Justice Department’s eye.
Did Cori Bush spend security money?
Bush, a beacon for progressives and a stalwart member of The Squad, has found herself in the midst of allegations regarding her campaign’s allocation of funds towards security services.
The allegations centre on the utilisation of campaign funds for security purposes, a move Bush has vehemently defended as necessary given the threats she has faced even before taking office in January 2021.
“In recent months, right-wing organisations 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 prioritise the rules that govern us as federal elected officials.” Bush explained.
Bush asserted her actions complied with legal standards, stressing that no federal tax dollars were diverted for personal security services.
However, a great deal has been made about her husband’s involvement in the security detail, a point of contention for investigators examining the intertwining of campaign roles and personal relationships.
“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,” Bush explained.
Bush’s tenure in Congress has not been without its challenges, facing threats even before her 2021 inauguration.
As the Justice Department maintains its silence on the investigation, other bodies like the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and the House Ethics Committee (HEC) have taken a keen interest in Bush’s campaign expenses.
Despite the swirling accusations, Bush referenced a clean bill of health from the Office of Congressional Ethics regarding past investigations, a move she pulled to separate fact from fiction in the court of public opinion.
“I am under no illusion that these right-wing organisations will stop politicising 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.”