In a move that could put her at odds with the law, according to July Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Democratic Missouri Representative Cori Bush reportedly changed the description of campaign payments made to her spouse.
According to FEC filings, Bush’s campaign handed her husband Cortney Merritts a wage expense payment totaling $2,500 six times between April and June 2023.
Additionally, according to the documents, Bush’s campaign sent Merritts $2,500 for “security services” on April 3, 2023.
According to Bush’s April FEC filings, the campaign paid him five times for “security services” between January and March of 2023.
Bush and Merritts wed in February 2023.
On February 11, the pair applied for a marriage license in St. Louis, and they were wed a few days later.
In spite of Merritts’ lack of a security license in St. Louis, where Bush’s Congressional district is situated, the campaign paid Merritts more than $60,000 for “security services,” according to Bush’s campaign documents from the 2022 midterm election season.
In March, the Foundation for Accountability and Civil Trust (FACT) complained to the FEC and asked that the agency look into allegations that Bush used campaign funds to pay her husband.
The FEC received an additional complaint from the anti-Joe Biden Committee to Defeat the President (CDP) in July regarding the revised classification Bush’s campaign gave the payments to Merritts.
In a separate complaint addressed to the FEC in March, CDP urged the agency to investigate Bush’s campaign spending.
Bush became well-known as a Black Lives Matter advocate and has publicly backed the “defund the police” movement. She was first elected in 2020 and joined “the squad,” a group of vocal progressive lawmakers under the leadership of Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
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