‘Be loud and wrong’: AOC cited in ethics complaint for ‘troubling’ expenditures
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., has been cited in an ethics complaint for her “troubling” expenditures, according to a report from Fox News.
She is thought to have misappropriated funds from her “Member Representational Allowance,” a fund that gives members of Congress cash to use for costs of “official duties.” Those funds may not be used for “personal or campaign purposes,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
The complaint was filed by a group called Americans for Public Trust, which wrote to the Office of Congressional Ethics about the “several troubling expenses” that AOC paid from the fund.
The allegation is that her spending schemes are “in contravention of federal law and the standards of the House of Representatives.”
The organization is seeking an investigation into AOC.
The accusation is that the member of the extremist “Squad” that has opposed everything President Donald Trump has done is instead spent money for “campaign” events.
She apparently paid “Juan D Gonzalez” $3,700 and “Bombazo Dance Co Inc.” $500.
Both expenses were listed as “training.”
Cortez went to social media to claim, “None of this is taxpayer money, this is an FEC filing. Be loud and wrong about something else. Try again next time.”
However, the complaint explains that her claims are “not reflective of her MRA – as well as her claim that ‘[n]one of this is taxpayer money’ – is both troubling and obviously incorrect.”
Caitlin Sutherland, of the Americans for Public Trust, explained, “Either she does not know the difference between her campaign funds and MRA, or, more likely, she knows the highlighted expenses were not for official business and should have been paid by her campaign and reported to the FEC.”
Sutherland said there’s a need for an investigation to determine because “the American people deserve to know lawmakers are being good stewards of their tax dollars.”
Cortez already has faced multiple ethics charges, including that she accepted “impermissible gifts” while attending a Met Gala, that she violated House rules and federal law, and that she made false accusations against the creator of the Libs of TikTok Twitter account.