Cori Bush’s legal costs mount ahead of primaries: report

Rep. Cori Bush (R-MO) reportedly spent $86,000 on legal fees in 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 financial records, obtained by Axios, reveal that her team paid nearly $100,000 to law firms between January and March. That means her campaign reportedly has $528,000 and $91,000 in debt, while her Democratic primary opponent, Wesley Bell, has more than $1.1 million cash on hand and no debt. Bush has maintained her innocence throughout the DOJ’s investigation into her.

The Washington Examiner contacted Bush’s office for comment.

Recent Federal Election Commission filings show that Bush’s campaign 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 in campaign money on security services.

The Justice Department began investigating Bush after it stopped categorizing payments to Merritts as security, instead filing them as “payroll costs.” Bush claimed she hired Merritts because he volunteered for the position beforehand.

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In early February, Bush trailed Bell, her main primary challenger, by 22 points New York Post poll. The Democratic primaries in Missouri are on August 6.

In light of the DOJ investigation, the Federal Election Commission and the House Ethics Committee are also investigating the situation.