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Rep. Cori Bush (R-MO) reportedly spent $86,000 on legal fees during the first quarter of the year amid a Justice Department investigation into payments her campaign made for her husband’s security services.
Bush’s campaign finance records, obtained by Axios, reveal her team paid nearly $100,000 to law firms between January and March. That reportedly leaves her campaign with $528,000 and $91,000 in debt, while her Democratic primary opponent, Wesley Bell, has more than $1.1 million cash on hand and zero debt. Bush has maintained her innocence during the DOJ’s inquiry into her.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Bush’s office for comment.
Recent Federal Election Commission filings indicate Bush’s that campaign has paid her husband, Cortney Merritts, $15,000 this year, in addition to the $135,000 he has received since January 2022. In total, Bush has spent more than $750,000 of campaign funds on security services.
The Department of Justice began investigating Bush after she stopped categorizing payments to Merritts as security and instead filed them as “wage expenses.” Bush claimed she hired Merritts because he had already volunteered for the position.
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In early February, a New York Post poll showed Bush behind Bell, her main primary challenger, by 22 points. Missouri’s Democratic primary election is on August 6.
As the DOJ’s inquiry unfolds, it’s noteworthy that the Federal Election Commission and the House Ethics Committee have also stepped in, launching their own investigations into the situation.
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