Congresswoman Cori Bush under investigation for alleged misuse of security funds

The Justice Department is investigating Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) for allegedly misusing money intended for members of Congress to spend on private security, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The scope of the investigation and allegations of wrongdoing were not immediately known. But in recent months, investigators have contacted multiple current and former staffers, inquiring about the congresswoman’s campaign spending, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly.

A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment. Punchbowl News first reported that federal officials were investigating Bush.

Bush confirmed in a statement that the Justice Department is “reviewing my campaign’s funding on security services” and said she is cooperating with investigators.

“Since before I was sworn into office, I have endured relentless threats to my physical safety and life,” Bush said in the statement. “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. I have not used any federal tax dollars for personal security services. Any reporting that I have used federal funds for personal security is simply false.”

Bush, a second-term congresswoman whose district includes St. Louis, is a community activist who became involved in politics after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. The killing of the Black teenager led to widespread racial justice protests and unrest. In Congress, Bush is a member of “the Squad,” a group of left-wing lawmakers that also includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)

Lawmakers in March 2022 approved changes to how much House and Senate offices could spend on security. A Democratic-led Congress bumped up spending to offices’ budgets, called the Members’ Representational Allowance, by 21 percent - largely to help increase staff pay, but that money also could be put toward security measures. House lawmakers also raised the cap on what an individual lawmaker could spend on security to $10,000.

Federal campaign finance rules also made it easier in recent years to spend campaign dollars on security, a recognition of heightened security risks to elected officials.

Bush has come under fire for using campaign money to hire her husband, Cortney Merritts, as her security. But the Office of Congressional Ethics dismissed a complaint filed against Bush last fall alleging that her campaign’s employment of Merritts was a violation of federal election law. Bush paid Merritts $60,000 in 2022 and $42,500 in 2023, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

The complaint alleged that Merritts did not appear to have private security licenses in the St. Louis or Washington, D.C., regions.

Bush, who is running for reelection, addressed the allegations around her husband in her statement and called complaints alleging her misuse of campaign funds to pay for security “frivolous.”

“In accordance with all applicable rules,” she said, “I retained my husband as part of my security team to provide security services because he has extensive experience in this area, and is able to provide the necessary services at or below a fair market rate.”

Candidates running for House and Senate offices increased campaign spending on security by more than 500 percent between the 2020 and 2022 elections, a 2023 Washington Post analysis of FEC filings found.