(Headline USA) “Squad” Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mass., has spent more than $300,000 on private security over the past year while she has advocated for defunding the police, according to federal records.
This past quarter, Bush’s campaign poured another $70,489 on security services between Jan. 1 and March 31, Fox News found. She paid Peace Security, $50,489; Cortney Merrits, $15,000; and Nathaniel Davis, $5,000.
That brings the total she has spent on security for this election cycle to $304,152.
Bush has been one of the most vocal advocates for defunding the police, even as Democrat leadership has urged its members to stay away from the controversial movement.
“I always tell [fellow Democrats], ‘If you all had fixed this before I got here, I wouldn’t have to say these things,” she said in February.
Last August, Bush insisted that “defunding the police has to happen” and that money used to fund law enforcement should instead be transferred to “social safety nets because we’re trying to save lives.”
After being confronted by the media about her hypocritical position, and why she spends tens of thousands of dollars on private security but doesn’t want to pay police officers to protect other citizens, Bush claimed her critics “would rather me die.”
“Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die?” she asked.
She insisted that she pays for private security because she has “too much work to do.”
“So suck it up, and defunding the police has to happen,” she said.
Ironically, a report by a local news outlet in St. Louis recently revealed that Bush hired two sheriff’s deputies to be a part of her security team less than a year after she praised the city council for voting to strip millions from the police force.
“Today’s decision to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is historic,” Bush said in April 2021.
“It marks a new future for our city. For decades, our city funneled more and more money into our police department under the guise of public safety, while massively underinvesting in the resources that will truly keep our communities safe.”
