It reeked of hypocrisy when it was revealed in mid-2021 that Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush, a member of the so-called hard left “squad” in the House of Representatives and an outspoken proponent of the “defund the police” movement, had spent $30,000 on security in just the first quarter of 2021.

This stench has never disappeared, but today a new scent may be detected: a hint of corruption.

According to KSDK-TV in St. Louis, Bush married Army veteran and (you won’t believe this) personal bodyguard Cortney Merritts in a secret ceremony last weekend. Bush has now spent a total of at least $627,088 from her campaign finances on security.

“Marriage records filed with the St. Louis Recorder of Deeds show Bush signed her marriage license in a pact with Cortney Merritts on Feb. 11, a few days before their wedding,” the NBC affiliate reported.

Despite the fact that Bush is likely the most prominent politician in Missouri outside of Republican Senator Josh Hawley, the station did not report on the wedding until Sunday, at least a week after the event.

Why? These appear to have been secret to begin with. The rationale for the secrecy is as follows: The fact that campaign finance records indicate Bush paid her new spouse $62,359 in campaign monies in 2022 alone, primarily for security expenses, indicates that She paid her new husband directly from campaign funds.

KSDK reported that “Merritts’ social media posts indicate he traveled with Bush on her trips to her first inauguration in January 2021, to New York City’s Ed Sullivan Theater for her appearance on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,’ and to Central America on a Congressional delegation trip.”

(On Tuesday morning, clicks on the social media posts that are linked to in the KSDK report got the message: “Sorry, this content isn’t available right now.”)

Bush has already asserted that many who have analyzed her security expenditures desire her death.

“They would rather I die? You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die?” she said CBS News in 2021 in response to an inquiry about her security expenditures.

“You know, because that could be the alternative. So either I spent $70,000 on private security over the last few months, and I’m here standing now and able to speak,” she continued.

“I have private security because my body is worth being on this planet right now. I have private security because they, the white supremacist racist narrative that they drive into this country. The fact that they don’t care that this black woman that has put her life on the line, they can’t match my energy first of all. This black woman who puts her life on the line. They don’t care that I could be taken out of here. They actually probably are OK with that, but this is the thing: I won’t let them get that off. You can’t get that off. I’m going to make sure I have security because I know I have had attempts on my life and I have too much work to do. There are too many people that need help right now for me to allow that.” CONTINUE READING…