FEC filings indicate security was one of her top campaign expenditures.
QUICK FACTS:
- Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) has called to defund the police despite spending almost $400k in private security expenditures.
- During the recent campaign cycle, security was Bush’s second-largest campaign service expenditure between April 1 and June 30.
- Bush has directed a total of $393,417.67 in donor funds to private security, even while continuing her calls for law enforcement to be defunded.
- The Missouri Democrat spent $89,265.67 on private security in the second quarter, much of which went to Peace Security.
- Peace Security made around $60,000 from Bush’s campaign, despite their public social media profiles espousing anti-gun control sentiments.
BUSH’S ANTI-POLICE COMMENTS:
- Bush is part of Capitol Hill’s most progressive anti-police groups, and has pushed back against the idea that the “defund the police” mantra is problematic in any way.
- “I always tell [fellow Democrats], ‘If you all had fixed this before I got here, I wouldn’t have to say these things,'” the ‘Squad’ member said in February.
- “‘Defund the police’ is not the problem,” she added. “We dangled the carrot in front of people’s faces and said we can get it done and that Democrats deliver, when we haven’t totally delivered. If [Republicans] take the majority, it’s just done as far as trying to get the legislation across.”
BACKGROUND:
- Bush’s excessive payments for private security were first reported in July of 2021, which caused the lawmaker to be questioned about the potential hypocrisy, in turn causing her to issue a somewhat dramatic response to CBS News’ question about the issue.
- “They would rather I die?” Bush asked. “You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die? You know, because that could be the alternative.”
