(Headline USA) “Squad” Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., continues to pay her husband tens of thousands of dollars from her campaign despite a Justice Department probe into her alleged misuse of campaign funds.
Federal Election Commission records released on Monday showed that Bush’s campaign made two $2,500 payments to her husband, Cortney Merritts, every month of this year. That brings the total Bush’s campaign has now paid Merritts since January 2022 to $135,000.
Bush’s campaign has defended the payments to Merritts for his “security services” as legitimate.
“As a rank-and-file member of Congress I am not entitled to personal protection by the House, and instead have used campaign funds as permissible to retain security services,” Bush said, in a statement earlier this year.
“In accordance with all applicable laws and House rules, I retained my husband as part of my security team to provide security services because he has extensive experience in this area, and is able to provide the necessary services at or below a fair market rate,” she added.
Notably, the payments to Merritts were listed as “wage expenses” by Bush’s campaign. She initially logged them as being security-related, but as at least two ethics complaints against her have pointed out, Merritts was not registered to provide professional security services in her congressional district.
When asked directly about his role with Bush’s campaign last year, Merritts appeared to be confused at the suggestion that he worked for her.
“I don’t have a role in the campaign,” Merritts told Fox News in October.
“You don’t have a role at all?” the reporter countered. “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 replied: “What’s this whole ‘gotcha’ s***? I’m not a politician, man, so ask me a question, man-to-man, and I’ll answer.”
In January, Bush confirmed she was under investigation by the Justice Department for her campaign’s spending on security services.
