It was recently revealed that Rep. Cori Bush, a member of the progressive Squad and ‘Defund the Police’ advocate, spent $70,000 on private security for herself and her team last quarter. Rep. Bush has constantly called to defund the police and even backed the “People’s Response Act,” which places limits on cops and uses community-led responses to public safety.
According to the reports, Rep. Cori Bush spent nearly $70,000 over the course of three months on private security as she advocated for defunding the police. $54,120.92 was sent to RS&T Security Consulting for “security services” and $15,0000 to Nathaniel Davis for security services. During the first three months of Bush’s campaign, she spent $35,000 on security services with RS&T, Davis, and Maryland-based firm Whole Armor Executive Protection.
While the RS&T webpage is no longer active, a cached version of the site describes the organization as “executive protection agents” that provide first-class protection and security for national and international figures.
Media outlets pointed out that it’s nearly doubled what her campaign spent on private security last year. She has spent nearly $100,000 on private security in 2021 and the payments account for more than a third of Bush’s $197,000 in campaign expenditures during the second quarter.
But Bush has called for the transfer of resources to keep our communities safe. She claimed that the city has funneled “more and more money” into our police department under the guise of public safety and called to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. She later shared on a social media post that these communities wouldn’t need to spark a national movement “if America weren’t racist AF.”
Bush has applauded many other states that called to defund their city’s police departments, including Austin, Texas. She even criticized former president Barack Obama who denounced the “defund the police” movement and said it would cost Democrats in the general election.
“With all due respect, Mr. President- let’s talk about losing people. We lost Michael Brown Jr. We lost Breonna Taylor. We’re losing our loved ones to police violence. It’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive. Defund the police,” Bush said.
Bush has emphasized that defunding the police isn’t radical, it’s real and has even praised Black Lives Matter activist Bassem Masri, who prayed for the deaths of numerous police officers. He received national attention for harassing cops on Livestream during the Ferguson Police Department protests.
Bush has even used taxpayer cash to spend on security, with her congressional office using $880 of funds on one day of protection with RS&T as the firm was collecting checks from the campaign. She also spent taxpayer funds on a day of private security for herself on February 19, 2021.
This is a huge amount of money compared to the other “Squad” members who haven’t spent nearly as much. During the second quarter, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent over $4,000, Rep. Ilhan Omar used $2,800, and Ayanna Pressley invested $3,500 in protection.
It’s a typical Dem move to push for Americans to lose access to public safety while funding their own private security. There needs to be a law that politicians have to live by the same rules the American people do. The Dems want no police and guns for you, but all of the private security in the world for them.
