Bush’s past payments to her husband for ‘security services,’ before and after their 2023 secret marriage, became the subject of a Justice Department investigation
Cori Bush, the far-left “Squad” member seeking to regain the House seat she lost in 2024, has put her embattled husband back on the campaign payroll, records show. The move comes despite how Bush became the focus of a Biden administration investigation after her 2024 campaign paid her beau for “security services.”
Bush’s campaign paid her husband, Cortney Merritts—who beat federal wire fraud charges last year—$2,273 in salary on June 1, according to campaign finance records. That’s on top of $15,000 that Bush paid herself between April 1 and May 29.
Bush’s payments to her husband could renew questions for the anti-Israel socialist ahead of her Aug. 4 primary against Rep. Wesley Bell, who defeated Bush by 5 points in the 2024 primary. Bush, along with Jamaal Bowman, was one of two Squad members who lost their seats that year. Both representatives blamed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for their loss. In a speech days after her primary loss, Bush threatened AIPAC, telling the pro-Israel group that “I’m coming to tear your kingdom down.”
A Department of Justice investigation into Bush came to light in January 2024 after the Biden administration subpoenaed the House sergeant at arms for records of Bush’s House office expenditures. Bush denied wrongdoing and said investigators were probing campaign payments to her husband.
Bush’s campaign paid Merritts, whom she secretly married in February 2023, more than $150,000 for “security services” and “wage expenses” since 2022, the Washington Free Beacon reported. It is not illegal for candidates to pay spouses and early family members as long as they perform “bona fide” campaign functions.
The status of the DOJ probe is unclear. Bush has not announced a closure of the probe, and her campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Merritts was indicted on federal wire fraud charges in March 2025 for allegedly defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program for $21,000. A federal judge dismissed the case in February after a Washington, D.C., jury failed to reach a verdict at trial.
Bush paid Merritts $11,000 last year through her political action committee, Politivist Action, according to campaign finance records. Bush has faced scrutiny over that organization after she raised money ostensibly for tornado relief. According to a local news station, there is no record that Bush used money she raised for charity to provide the relief. And she has repeatedly dodged local reporters’ questions on the issue.
Despite the legal issues, Bush is running neck and neck with Bell to reclaim her old House seat. Bush, who is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) as well as by the Democratic Socialists of America, who have enthusiastically supported her for years, has hammered Bell, a liberal Democrat, over donations he’s received from AIPAC-affiliated groups. Bush has multiple links to antisemites. Bush’s campaign paid $137,000 for security services to her longtime friend, Nathaniel Davis, a self-proclaimed spiritual guru who has claimed that Jews control the world. Bush worked closely for years with an activist who said she wanted to “set Israel on fire with my own hands & watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it.”
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