Cori Bush’s legal expenses rise ahead of tough primary: Report

Rep. Cori Bush (R-MO) reportedly spent $86,000 on legal fees during the year’s first quarter amid a Justice Department investigation into payments her campaign made for her husband’s security services.

Bush’s campaign finance records, obtained by Axios, reveal her team paid nearly $100,000 to law firms between January and March. That reportedly leaves her campaign with $528,000 and $91,000 in debt, while her Democratic primary opponent, Wesley Bell, has more than $1.1 million cash on hand and zero debt. Bush has maintained her innocence during the DOJ’s inquiry into her.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Bush’s office for comment.

Recent Federal Election Commission filings indicate Bush’s campaign has paid her husband, Cortney Merritts, $15,000 this year, in addition to the $135,000 he has gotten since January 2022. In total, Bush has spent more than $750,000 of campaign funds toward security services.

The Department of Justice began investigating Bush after she stopped categorizing payments to Merritts as security but instead filed them as “wage expenses.” Bush claimed she hired Merritts because he was already volunteering in the position beforehand.

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In early February, Bush was behind Bell, her main primary challenger, by 22 points in a New York Post poll. Missouri’s Democratic primary election is on August 6.

In light of the DOJ’s inquiry, the Federal Election Commission and the House Ethics Committee are also investigating the situation.