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House Ethics Committee Investigation of AOC

AOC
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Met Gala dress | Image by Kevin Mazur/MG21

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is facing the fallout of an ethics investigation.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) has released a report stating “there is substantial reason to believe [she] accepted impermissible gifts associated with her attendance” at the Met Gala in 2021.

In June 2022, the Board of the Office of Congressional Ethics recommended that the House evaluate allegations against Ocasio-Cortez, per the OCE.

The report says, “If Rep. Ocasio-Cortez accepted impermissible gifts, then she may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.”

Investigation into the incident regarding gifts that Ocasio-Cortez allegedly received for the Met Gala in 2021 began in December 2022.

The case involves a “Tax the Rich” dress Ocasio-Cortez wore to the Gala, as well as other accessories and services she received but did not pay for until after being contacted about the investigation.

“In 2021, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was invited to and attended the Met Gala. As part of her attendance, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was provided with a couture dress, handbag, shoes, and jewelry. She also received hair, makeup, transportation, and ready-room services,” stated the report by the OCE. 

The OCE confirmed that Ocasio-Cortez did pay for the rental of these items but did not make the payments until after the OCE contacted her.

“While Rep. Ocasio-Cortez appears to have now paid for the rental value of the attire she wore to the Met Gala, and for the goods and services she and her partner received in connection with this September 2021 event, payment for these goods and services did not occur until after the OCE contacted her in connection with this review.

“But for the OCE opening this review, it appears that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez may not have paid for several thousands of dollars’ worth of goods and services provided to her,” stated the report.

Ocasio-Cortez allegedly denied blame in an interview with investigators. 

“And I just never, ever, ever would have allowed that to happen knowing what I have learned, but that I wasn’t privy to the invoices, wasn’t privy to the ones that had been sent,” she told investigators, per Insider. “And it is just a deeply regrettable situation. I feel l terrible for especially the small businesses that were impacted.”

In a statement provided to the Washington Examiner, Ocasio-Cortez’s spokesperson, Lauren Hilt, said, “Though no Ethics violation has been found, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) did identify that there were delays in paying vendors for costs associated with the Congresswoman’s attendance at the Met Gala.

“The Congresswoman finds these delays unacceptable, and she has taken several steps to ensure nothing of this nature will happen again.”

The statement continued to add that reports of payment delays are accurate and regrettable but do not violate House Rules.

“However, while regrettable, these delayed payments definitively do not rise to the level of a violation of House Rules. Even after OCE’s exhaustive review of the Congresswoman’s personal communications, there is no record of the Congresswoman refusing to pay for these expenses.

“To the contrary, there are several explicit, documented communications, from prior to OCE’s review, that show the Congresswoman fully understood that she had to pay for these expenses from her own personal funds — as she ultimately did,” Hilt added, per the Washington Examiner.

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1 Comment

  1. Brad Johnson

    Are you guys going to report on Fox News lying to their sheep or nah?

    Reply

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