It’s difficult to imagine many prominent public figures don’t receive threats in today’s weird, wired world. But U.S. Rep. Cori Bush seems to have set up her own private protection racket.
The St. Louis congresswoman’s campaign has shelled out over half a million dollars for private security, including tens of thousands to her husband, according to Fox News Digital, even as she continues to call for defunding the police that protect the public.
Fox News reported that Bush’s campaign filed the fund’s second-quarter report Saturday, a week later than required by law.
“The new filing shows (husband Courtney) Merritts pocketed $17,500 for security services and ‘wage expenses’ between April and June,” Fox News reported. “These payments follow the $12,500 that went to him during the first quarter for private security services, bringing his total to $30,000 for the year.”
Even before the two were married in February, Fox News reports, “Her campaign sent Merritts bimonthly $2,500 checks totaling $60,000 last year while disbursing hundreds of thousands to the (PEACE Security) protection firm.”
This, despite the fact that Merritts didn’t have a private security license as of February, though “individuals must have a permit to perform security functions in St. Louis and its neighboring St. Louis County, which encompasses Bush’s entire congressional district, a local official said at the time.
“Merritts also did not appear in a Washington, D.C., database of licensed security specialists …”
At least two Federal Election Commission complaints have been filed by watchdog groups, Fox says, and two St. Louis deputies were fired for working her security on the side without approval.
Even as she spends hundreds of thousands in campaign cash on her private security, Bush has clung to defunding the police. She’s nearly alone on that in Washington, D.C., even among her own Democrat Party.
“We should all agree,” President Joe Biden declared to a standing ovation in last year’s State of the Union address, “the answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police. Fund them. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training – resources and training they need to protect our communities. I ask Democrats and Republicans alike to pass my budget and keep our neighborhoods safe.”
Bush was having none of it.
“Defund the police. Invest in our communities,” the far-left “Squad” member tweeted in response to Biden. “All our country has done is given more funding to police. The result? 2021 set a record for fatal police shootings.”
In an interview with CBS News, Bush said without elaboration that she’s had “attempts on my life” and needs the security.
“So suck it up, and defunding the police has to happen,” she said.
“While Bush says the security is due to threats against her,” Fox News writes, “other ‘Squad’ members – like many other politicians – also receive threats but steer far less campaign cash into the services.”
