Liberal lawmaker Cori Bush (D-Mo) has been hit with a complaint from the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) over payments to her now-husband for private security services.
On Thursday, Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed a formal complaint against the staunch “defund the police” advocate and demanded FEC general counsel Lisa Stevenson open an investigation into whether “Rep. Cori Bush and her campaign committee may have used campaign funds for personal use.”
According to reports from Fox News, Bush's campaign paid her now-husband, Cortney Merritts, $60,000 for security in 2022 despite him not having a private security license, which is needed to conduct such services in the St. Louis region. While Merritts collected the payments, Bush's campaign also spent $225,281 with PEACE Security and $50,000 with an individual named Nathaniel Davis for personal protection.
But is Mr. Merritts's purported private security business a sham?
Within the complaint, FACT says that committees generally may only spend funds for “bona fide campaign or political purposes” and that payments that are not for bona fide services at fair market value could fall under one of two prohibited categories, including “payments to family members” or “gifts.”
However, FEC rules state that “campaign funds may be used to make salary payments to members of the candidate's family,” provided that the member provides a “bona fide service” and the payments “reflect the fair market value.”
“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,” FACT wrote in the complaint. “If so, these payments would qualify as either impermissible payments to a family member or an impermissible gift.”
“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,” FACT continued. “Ultimately, if one or more campaign laws are found to have been broken, we request the FEC hold the respondents accountable.”
American Liberty News previously reported that the Missouri Congresswoman recently married Mr. Merritts in a private ceremony.
Bush's office confirmed their marriage on Monday morning, saying they'd been together since before Bush took office in 2021, meaning Bush added Merritts to her campaign's payroll at least a year after the start of their relationship.
However, FEC rules may permit members of a candidate's family to be paid via campaign funds there remains one glaring problem, Merritts doesn't even have a security license in Bush's entire congressional district, a direct violation of the law.
Fox News also reported Merritts does not appear to have a security license in Washington, D.C.
“With the exception of St. Louis Police Officers, all persons performing a security function in the City of St. Louis must be licensed to do so through the Private Security Section,” the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department website states. Security officers in St. Louis County must also register with the same security section.
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After Biden gets done paying for all the people who didn’t want to pay their student loans back, reparations, and a universal income, he can work on paying for security for all the people his more crime, less police, fantasies have left exposed. Of course that would not be any politicians. As shown here, they get to spend all kinds of other people’s money for anything they want, despite being our “representatives”, not our “overseers”. This revolution must end. It is un-American and un-Constitutional as well. Get rid of the squatter in our White House.