Cori Bush slapped with ethics complaint alleging she abused government resources for campaign purposes
Fox News
Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush is facing an ethics complaint alleging she used government resources for campaign purposes in violation of House rules, Fox News Digital has learned.
On Thursday, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) lodged a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) requesting a prompt investigation into whether Bush violated rules and misused official resources from a campaign social media account.
“Rep. Bush’s abuse of official resources for political purposes shows a flagrant disregard for the law,” FACT executive director Kendra Arnold told Fox News Digital. “These laws and ethics rules are in place to maintain the integrity of official proceedings, so members cannot leverage them for political advantage.”
“The violation we have documented in our complaint is clear and obvious, and after confirming through investigation, we hope the OCE moves swiftly to impose the proper penalty,” Arnold said.
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FACT’s complaint states that Bush “disrupted official House proceedings with outrageous and unprofessional behavior and then campaigned and fundraised off of it.”
On July 31, the outspoken “Squad” member pushed a C-SPAN video from her campaign’s Twitter account showing her on the House floor shouting about “racist bills” as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise spoke. In the tweet, Bush added that the bills are also “sexist, patriarchal, xenophobic, classist, homophobic, and transphobic.”
The progressive firebrand followed up by posting a link to donate to her campaign.
House ethics rules prohibit congressional members from using official resources for campaign or political purposes. The watchdog group notes that “official resources” are anything taxpayers fund, including photographs and video from the House floor or committee proceedings.
Politicians must also strictly separate campaigns, official websites and social media accounts.
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“The legal violation in this case is obvious and there are no facts that can excuse it—Bush used official House proceedings and resources for political purposes,” the complaint states. “Video of official house floor proceedings is an official resource, and both using it for political purposes and posting it on a campaign social media account are violations of the ethics rules.”
“It is irrelevant that Bush obtained this video from CSPAN because a Member cannot use official footage even if it is obtained or reposted from another entity,” it continues. “The fact that Bush uses this video on her campaign social media account and directly fundraises off of it shows a complete disrespect for the law.”
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Bush’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint.