‘Squad’ Member Cori Bush Spent $70K On Private Security Even As She Called To Defund The Police

Missouri Rep. Cori Bush is under fire as campaign filings revealed the Dem spent approximately $70,000 on private security even as she was advocating defunding the police.

Speaking at “Sunday Night in America,” host and former GOP congressman Trey Gowdy slammed Bush’s campaign spending that reportedly paid $54,120.92 to RS&T Security Consulting and $15,000 to Nathaniel Davis for “security services,” Fox News reported. The payments were reportedly made between April 15 and June 28, as revealed by records with the Federal Election Commission.

“She wants to defund your police, but not her police,” Gowdy said of Bush, adding that Bush was “hypocritical” when she publicly called for reducing police budgets while spending thousands on private security. “If you really want to defund the police, start with your own,” Gowdy said.

Bush is a member of the left-leaning progressive 'Squad' in the U.S. House and had advocated reallocating police funding — diverting money currently spent on policing into social and welfare services as a means of strengthening public safety.

"Defund the police" became a battle cry for Democrats, especially the progressives, as violence swept the country last year after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

The New York City Council slashed a billion dollars from the NYPD's budget and its undercover anti-crime unit was disbanded; the city is seeing a crime surge now. Minneapolis City Council voted to dismantle the city’s police force but had to reverse that decision as crime shot up.

President Joe Biden has said he remains opposed to the calls to defund the police as he seeks to move the party away from the left's agenda that is expected to hurt Democrats in the midterm elections next year.

Bush has yet to respond to Gowdy’s comments, but in a recent interview with Chris Hayes’ “Why Is This Happening?” podcast, she revealed that she was “harassed sexually by police officers in police cars” when she was younger.

She added that while she has not had good interactions with some police when she entered Congress, some departments in her community “understand why I’m the way that I am.”

In May, Bush was one of the progressive representatives who voted against a funding bill that sought to pour $1.9 billion into Capital security upgrades, the Kansas City Star reported. At that time, Bush said the bill will “not prevent” a Jan. 6 type attack at the Capitol from happening again unless the government addresses “underlying threats.”

Late last month, Bush introduced a bill that seeks to create a public safety division under the Department of Human Health and Services (HHS), which should provide funding for state and local programs focused on “emergency situations, substance use and mental health crises,” The Hill reported.

Bush said the new bill will revamp public safety “into a system of care rather than criminalization,” adding that the legislation will include $2.5 billion for hiring mental health experts, licensed social workers, and other related specialists to help spur public safety.