Cori 'Defund the Police' Bush Weds Unlicensed Security Guard She Paid With Campaign Funds

The Squad’s Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who told detractors to “suck it up” after she was caught using campaign funds to pay for personal security while calling to defund police, has found the love—or leech—of her life. Bush just married Cortney Merritts, who received $60,000 to provide Bush with security in 2022 even though he didn’t have the required license.

Fox News reported on Feb. 28 that, according to campaign finance records, Bush paid PEACE Security $225,281.80 for personal protection in 2022. But even more hypocritically, the “defund police” activist paid her now-husband Merritts $60,000 in a series of $2,500 checks, not to mention $2,359.59 for gas and travel (another man named Nathaniel Davis also received $50,000). Fox said Merritts is not licensed in either Washington, D.C. or St. Louis (which includes Bush’s congressional district) based on a public records request with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and a confirmation of licensed security guards from D.C.’s Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection.

Even before Bush started payouts to Merritts, she was criticized in 2021 for her spending on personal security while calling to defund the police. Her justification was, essentially, “I’m valuable, unlike the rest of you peasants, so put up and shut up.” To quote her exact words: “They would rather I die? 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.”

She added, “I have had attempts on my life. And I have too much work to do.” And she ended, “So suck it up, and defunding the police has to happen.”