(Headline USA) The husband of “Squad” Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., husband appeared confused when confronted last week on why Bush’s campaign has paid him tens of thousands of dollars over the past year.
Cortney Merritts, who worked as a security guard for Bush before marrying her earlier this year, has pocketed more than $100,000 from Bush’s campaign since Bush added him to her payroll in January 2022.
His payments were initially marked as a “security” expense, but were changed to “wage expenses” in April.
As Merritts was leaving a political fundraiser in Washington, D.C., last week, a Fox News reporter asked him what his current role with Bush’s campaign is.
“I don’t have a role in the campaign, man,” Merritts admitted.
The reporter responded: “You don’t have a role at all? They were reporting you had wages on the campaign for security, and then it was a general wage. I was just wondering what you’ve been doing on the campaign?”
Merritts again struggled to respond.
“Yeah, I mean you can Google what it is,” he replied. “You can also Google what happened with the FEC report came back 5-0, that it was all completely above board.”
The reporter continued to press, asking for confirmation that Merritts is still working for Bush’s campaign.
“Am I still employed with it? Yes, so obviously, I’m going to work with it,” Merritts said. “What’s this whole ‘gotcha’ s***? I’m not a politician, man, so ask me a question man-to-man, and I’ll answer.”
Bush and Merritts were married in February of this year, but her campaign acknowledged they had been together for more than a year while it was paying him for “security” services.
It is still not clear what “security” service Merritt provides. As of February, he did not have a private security license, and his name did not appear in a Washington, D.C., database of licensed security specialists, according to Fox News.