Far-left Rep. Cori Bush (D-Missouri) lags far behind the Democratic front-runner in both campaign fundraising and recent polling, but she has accused the federal government and campaign finances of fraud. He is facing a Justice Department investigation for allegedly making the payments. She hires personal security personnel, including a man she later marries.
Bush, 47, finished 2023 with just over $215,000 in cash. Campaign finance filings showMeanwhile, Democratic challenger Wesley Bell Approximately $409,000.
Republican Remington Research also conducted a survey in early February that found Bell leading Bush by 22 points ahead of the Aug. 6 primary.
The clearest contrast between the two candidates is their response to the Israel-Hamas war, with Bell protect the Jewish state After the Oct. 7 terrorist attack from the Gaza Strip, Bush “condemned” the Israeli military:war crimesIt has attacked Palestinians and repeatedly called for a “ceasefire.”
Fellow Squad members Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) support further U.S. military aid to Israel. He joined President Bush in opposing it.
In late January, Mr. Bush, a supporter of the “defund the police” movement, also acknowledged that he was the subject of a federal investigation into personal safety payments, but said that “to maintain public safety services… He used campaign funds within the allowable range.” .
“I do not spend any federal tax dollars on my personal security services. Any reports that I have used federal funds for personal security are completely false,” she said, adding that she is “cooperating fully” with the investigation. He added that he is doing so.
According to reports, Mr. Bush spent $1,416 She is paying for her “security services” out of her delegate allowance, which is provided by U.S. taxpayers.
In 2022, the Bush campaign paid $60,000 to protect Courtney Merritt, who did not have a private security license, according to a complaint later filed with the House Office of Congressional Ethics.
The Missouri congressman, who married Merritt the following year, has not been paid for his “security services” since April 2023, although he still receives them. $5,000 per month in terms of wages, according to campaign finance filings.
Under Federal Election Commission rules, political campaigns can only make payments to candidates’ families for “bona fide” services.
A man named Joseph Walter was receiving the same $5,000 per month for “security services” as of the fourth quarter of 2023 filing.
A former Black Panther named Nathaniel Davis has also received a total of about $137,000 from the Bush campaign since 2020, before being removed from last year’s third and fourth quarter reports.
PEACE Security, a St. Louis-based company, provided the same services to far-left representatives for $225,000, according to other filings.
During his first two years in office, Mr. Bush spent a total of about $500,000 on personal protection.
“I’m going to make sure I’m safe because I’ve been tried so many times in my life and I have too much to do,” she said in an August 2021 interview with CBS News. . “So what happens if she ends up spending $200,000 and she spends another $10? I’m here to do a job.”
“So we need to stop and defund the police,” Bush said. “We need to defund the police and put that money into the social safety net because we are trying to save lives.”
Bush gained attention as an activist after the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014, and currently represents Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, which includes St. Louis and its northwest suburbs. He is running for a term.
