Rep. Cori Bush’s campaign doles out $60K to unlicensed security contractor who is now her husband

ST. LOUIS – Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush’s campaign paid $60,000 in private security payments last year to Cortney Merritts, a man she quietly married earlier this month. He was also reimbursed $2,359 for gas and travel. Moreover, Bush’s campaign paid PEACE Security more than $225,000 for personal protection, and another man $50,000, according to a review of her campaign records. These seem to be significant expenditures for someone who aggressively engages in stripping protection, via law enforcement services, from her constituents.

However, a more troubling footnote to the story is that Merritts pocketed the security payments despite being unlicensed in St. Louis to offer such services, Fox News Digital discovered. Merritts also received the campaign’s cash as it simultaneously paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a St. Louis security firm PEACE as well as another individual, Nathaniel Davis, for personal protection.

So Bush’s campaign forked over $225,281.80 to PEACE Security, $62,359.59 to Merritts, and $50,000 to Davis. The total of $337,641.39 certainly seems to be a hefty sum of money for bodyguards from someone who advocates defunding police.

Fox News Digital said they “filed a public records request with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department on Monday morning seeking information regarding Merritts’ private security license. In response, a Sunshine Law administrator said there are ‘no responsive records’ relative to the request, and Merritts does not have a current license.”