Squad Member Cori Bush Under Criminal Investigation by DOJ: Report

After a grand jury subpoena was issued to Congress, the Justice Department investigation was said to be a “criminal probe” of Missouri Rep. Cori Bush (D).

Early Tuesday, it was learned that the House sergeant-at-arms had been subpoenaed for documents related to a lawmaker's alleged misuse of government funds. While the behavior of certain elected officials led to speculation about who the subpoena belonged to, Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News confirmed through multiple sources that the BLM activist turned squad member was the focus of the investigation .

“BREAKING: THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting a criminal investigation into @CoriBush, according to six sources familiar with the investigation,” Sherman wrote on X. “The DOJ subpoenaed the House sergeant-at-arms for obtain records related to the embezzlement of federal security money.”

BREAKING NEWS: THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting a criminal investigation @CoryBushaccording to six sources familiar with the investigation.

The Justice Department subpoenaed the House sergeant-at-arms to obtain records related to the embezzlement of federal security money…

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 30, 2024

How it had been reportedHouse reading clerk Susan Cole had read in a letter from Sergeant-at-Arms William P. McFarland that read: “The Honorable the Speaker, the House of Representatives. Sir, this is to notify you formally, pursuant to rule 8 of the rules of the House of Representatives, that the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives has received a grand jury subpoena for documents issued by the US Department of Justice. “.

“After consulting with the Office of the General Counsel,” Cole's reading continued, “I have determined that compliance with the subpoena is consistent with the rights and privileges of the House.”

While the details of the criminal investigation have not yet been released, since she was first elected in 2020, the radical socialist congresswoman had been hit by multiple complaints from the Federal Election Commission with a specific focus on payments made to her now-husband Cortney Merritts and his private security business. .

Bush and Merritts had begun dating in August 2020, before she was elected, and had married in a secret ceremony in February 2023.

The FEC filings documented that the politician who favored defunding the police had paid $225,881 to the Private Security of the Civilian Auxiliary Executive (PEACE), based in St. Louis in 2022, as well as more than $62,000 in Merritts. Overall, since she was elected, security has remained Bush's biggest expense, topping three-quarters of a billion dollars.

Cori Bush receives second FEC complaint for 'systematic payments to former lover and current husband'https://t.co/SMPYBJm9hV

— American Wire News (@americanwire_) March 15, 2023

“Any time a member of Congress puts someone with a close personal relationship on the campaign payroll, greater scrutiny is required to ensure that the legal standard has been met, which, in this case, is that the payments were for bona fide services at fair market value,” Foundation for Civic Accountability and Trust (FACT) Executive Director Kendra Arnold told Fox News Digital.

Merritts, Arnold had noted, was not “licensed to provide security services for which he was being paid,” and his group will proceed to file another ethics complaint in 2023 after Bush alleged misuse of the agency's resources. Congress making a video of an official House proceeding. for use in a campaign video.

“The legal violation in this case is obvious and there are no facts that can excuse it: Bush used the official procedures and resources of the House for political purposes,” he denounced. he stated referring to the lawmaker's use of a clip taken from CSPAN in which she could be heard shouting on the House floor, “Your bills are racist!”

“The video of the official proceedings of the house is an official resource, and both its use for political purposes and its posting on a campaign social media account are violations of ethical rules,” read FACT's complaint that to state: “It is irrelevant. that Bush obtained this video from CSPAN because a member cannot use official footage even if it is obtained or republished from another entity.”

At the time of this publication, the congresswoman had not issued a statement about the investigation, but had previously dismissed criticism of her security spending in an interview with CBS News where she said, “Would you rather I die? Would you rather me die ? Is that what you want me to see? Do you want to see me die? You know, because that might be the alternative. So, I've either spent $70,000 on private security over the last few months, and I'm standing here now and I can talk, able to help save 11 million people from being evicted. Or maybe I could have a death attempt on my life.”

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he's not researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel ·the.

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