{"id":2223405,"date":"2024-04-17T15:37:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T19:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/squad-member-cori-bush-spending-campaign-cash-on-husband-amid-doj-investigation\/"},"modified":"2024-04-17T15:38:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T19:38:32","slug":"squad-member-cori-bush-spending-campaign-cash-on-husband-amid-doj-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/squad-member-cori-bush-spending-campaign-cash-on-husband-amid-doj-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cori Bush, a member of the &#8216;Squad,&#8217; is using campaign funds for her husband amidst a DOJ investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsquad-member-cori-bush-spending-campaign-cash-on-husband-amid-doj-investigation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2223405&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. Cori Bush, under scrutiny for spending campaign funds on her husband, \u200cmade $15,000 in payments to him\u2062 during the first quarter \u200bof 2024. The situation escalated as her husband, Cortney Merritts, is central to a DOJ investigation into Bush&#8217;s campaign spending on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-cori-bush-wants-to-defund-the-police-but-spent-taxpayer-money-on-private-security-for-herself\/\" title=\"Rep. Cori Bush Wants To \u2018Defund The Police\u2019 But Spent Taxpayer Money On Private Security For Herself\">private security services<\/a>. Additional controversial \u200bpayments \u2064include sums to\u200d an anti-Semitic spiritual guru. Rep. Cori Bush is facing \u2062scrutiny\u200d for \u200callocating campaign funds to her husband, making $15,000 in payments to him in the first quarter of 2024. The situation \u2062intensified as her \u2063husband, Cortney \u200bMerritts,\u2064 is a focal\u2062 point in a Department of Justice investigation regarding her campaign&#8217;s expenditure on private security services. Notably, controversial payments were\u200d also\u200b made to an anti-Semitic spiritual guru.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><figcaption> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tCori Bush, Cortney Merritts (Twitter)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>It seems not even a criminal investigation can stop Rep. Cori Bush (D., Mo.) from spending campaign cash on her husband.<\/p>\n<p>Bush paid $15,000 to her husband, Cortney Merritts, during the first three months of 2024, a Federal Election Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/cgi-bin\/forms\/C00638767\/1776460\/sb\/ALL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filing<\/a> released Monday shows. Merritts is at the center of a Department of Justice investigation into Bush&#8217;s spending on private security services: Her campaign has paid over $137,000 to Merritts for &#8220;security services,&#8221; in regular $5,000 per month increments, starting in January 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Those payments came under heightened scrutiny after news surfaced that Bush and Merritts secretly married in February 2023. After Bush&#8217;s marriage became public, the &#8220;Squad&#8221; member started describing her payments to Merritts to the FEC as &#8220;wage expenses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bush&#8217;s payments to her husband are just a small portion of the more than $750,000 that her campaign has spent on private security services since 2019. She has also paid $152,000 to her personal friend and anti-Semitic spiritual guru Nathaniel Davis III, a man who says Jews rule the world and claims he can read minds and summon tornados at will. Bush&#8217;s campaign stopped paying Davis in June 2023 following a <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/meet-the-anti-semitic-spiritual-guru-on-cori-bushs-payroll\/\"><em>Washington Free Beacon <\/em><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/meet-the-anti-semitic-spiritual-guru-on-cori-bushs-payroll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> on the guru&#8217;s supernatural abilities.<\/p>\n<p>Bush, one of Congress&#8217;s most adamant proponents of defunding the police, justified her private security budget due to the &#8220;relentless threats to [her] physical safety and life&#8221; that she has endured since assuming office in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; Bush said in a January <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/cori-bush-under-criminal-investigation-for-misusing-federal-funds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a> announcing the Justice Department&#8217;s investigation. &#8220;I have not used any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/study-taxpayer-funded-abortion-seekers-are-often-repeat-customers\/\" title=\"Study: Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Seekers Are Often Repeat Customers\">federal tax dollars<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-cori-bushs-car-struck-by-gunfire-in-st-louis\/\" title=\"Rep. Cori Bush\u2019s Car Struck by Gunfire in St. Louis\">personal security services<\/a>. Any reporting that I have used federal funds for personal security is simply false.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bush may regret spending so much of her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-union-blunder-reveals-the-truth-behind-big-labor\/\" title=\"Biden Union Blunder Reveals The Truth Behind Big Labor\">campaign war chest<\/a> on private security, as she faces a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-national-committee-will-vote-friday-to-censure-liz-cheney-adam-kinzinger\/\" title=\"Republican National Committee Will Vote Friday to Censure Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger\">tough primary challenge<\/a> from St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell, who has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.riverfronttimes.com\/news\/wesley-bell-explains-his-position-on-israels-actions-in-gaza-41296861\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attacked<\/a> Bush for her criticism of Israel in the aftermath of Hamas&#8217;s Oct. 7 attack. Bush raised just $608,000 in the first three months of 2024, compared with Bell&#8217;s $954,000, FEC filings show.<\/p>\n<p>Polls show Bush <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/4464073-cori-bush-trailing-democratic-primary-challenger-by-22-points-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trailing<\/a> Bell by 22 points.\t<\/p>\n<p>Bell also has a significant cash-on-hand advantage over Bush, with over <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/pdf\/210\/202404159627653210\/202404159627653210.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$1.1 million<\/a> at the end of March. Bush, meanwhile, ended the quarter with just <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/pdf\/240\/202404159633398240\/202404159633398240.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$528,000<\/a> on hand.<\/p>\n<p>Bush did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite facing a criminal investigation, Rep. Cori Bush (D., Mo.) continued to allocate campaign funds to her husband, Cortney Merritts. The Federal Election Commission revealed a payment of $15,000 to Merritts in the first quarter of 2024. Merritts remains a focal point of the situation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":2223406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2023-09-20-at-2.40.51-PM_736x514.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2223405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2023-09-20-at-2.40.51-PM_736x514.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2223405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2223406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2223405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2223405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2223405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}