AOC hit with three ethics complaints within first three months in office

Joe Schoffstall
Washington Free Beacon
Sun, 10 Mar 2019 17:48 UTC

© Mark Lennihan / Associated Press / REX / Shutterstock

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y) and her Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabarti

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y) has been hit with an ethics complaint alleging that the freshman Democrat improperly used House resources for political purposes in violation of ethics rules.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, filed the complaint Thursday to the U.S. House of Representative's Office of Congressional Ethics requesting that the committee investigate Ocasio-Cortez's use of official resources on her social media accounts.

"In the first two weeks of February 2019, Ocasio- Cortez posted numerous videos of official House floor and committee proceedings on her political Twitter and Instagram accounts," the complaint reads. "Her posts prominently displayed both official House photographs and video footage, on which she commented and instructed viewers to watch the videos."

"Ironically, in one of the posts she discussed the ethics standards to which she should be held," it continues. "Additionally, on Ocasio-Cortez's political Instagram page, she directly links to her official House Instagram account and includes a link for political contributions, alongside the posts of official video footage and her comments on official action. There are numerous ethics rules violated in this case, all of which require separation between official action and resources and political action and fundraising."

House ethics rules prohibit Members from using official taxpayer-backed resources for any political or campaign-related activities.

The watchdog says that Ocasio-Cortez committed a number of violations.

"In this case, Representative Ocasio-Cortez posted official photographs and video on her political social media accounts," the complaint reads. "This is a straightforward violation: House Ethics Rules prohibit Members from using official taxpayer-funded resources like House video for any political purpose. Second, Ocasio-Cortez also used a campaign social media page to link directly to her official social media page. This is also a straightforward violation: House ethics rules prohibit a Member from posting a link to her official social media site on a campaign social media site. Finally, Ocasio-Cortez solicitated campaign donations on a social media page that used official House video footage and linked to an official Member page."

Numerous exhibits for the alleged violations are included within the complaint.

"Representative Ocasio-Cortez has not only violated the most basic congressional ethics laws on the books, she has done so repeatedly," said Kendra Arnold, the executive director of FACT. "These laws exist so that elected Representatives are not using official business on behalf of the American people to push a political agenda or gain a political advantage. These are clear violations and the Ethics Committee needs to act."

After the Free Beacon contacted Ocasio-Cortez's office, Corbin Trent, her communications director, called but did not want to provide a comment on the complaint.

This is the second complain filed against Ocasio-Cortez this week.

The National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission earlier this week alleging that political action committees established by Ocasio-Cortez's chief-of-staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, funneled over $1 million in contributions to limited liability companies that he established. Chakrabari acted as Ocasio-Cortez's campaign chair and co-founded the Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress PACs, which sent the money to his respective LLCs.

Comment:

• Hypocrisy from the Radical Left: AOC's Chief of Staff may have funneled money to her boyfriend through PAC
• AOC chief of staff funneled $1M from PAC to his own companies
• Writer's Twitter account temporarily suspended after questioning if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put her boyfriend on payroll

Both Chakrabarti and Ocasio-Cortez are listed as respondents on the complaint.

Joe Schoffstall is a staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon. Previously, he spent three years with the Media Research Center and was most recently with the Capitol City Project. He can be reached at [e-mail]. His Twitter handle is @JoeSchoffstall.

Comment: The Daily Caller brings more information:

Ocasio-Cortez "improperly converted U.S. House resources to her non-official, personal use by obtaining an official '@mail.house.gov' e-mail address for her boyfriend, despite the fact he was not employed by her congressional office," the Coolidge-Reagan Foundation claimed in a complaint Thursday.

She also falsely designated her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, a "staff" member to help secure the address, the group noted. The Coolidge-Reagan Foundation's website champions itself as a first amendment watchdog group that defends, protects and advances "liberty."

News of the email address first appeared after political consultant Luke Thompson posted a screenshot of a House directory on Feb. 15 showing Roberts listed under "staff," alongside the email address and the phone number for Ocasio-Cortez's congressional office. The New York representative's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, dismissed Thompson's insinuation that Robert is a paid staff member.

"He's not paid. We have no volunteers in the office. He's not doing any government work," Chakrabarti noted in a tweet responding to Thompson. "He can see her calendar just like spouses/partners/family members in other congressional office. Check your damn facts before you report bullshit. Lazy journos need to learn to do their jobs."

Screenshot of House Directory site showing Riley’s email address

The second complaint was filed by The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) Thursday and alleges Ocasio-Cortez's political Instagram account contains direct links to her House Instagram account and includes a link for political contributions, alongside posts of official video footage on the House floor. The group claims these actions violate House ethics rules.

House ethics rules prohibit lawmakers from using official resources for political purposes, the complaint notes. The rules also forbid a member from posting a link to her official social media site on a campaign social media site. She solicited donations on the page that used the video footage, according to FACT, a nonprofit group whose past president, Matthew Whitaker, served as President Donald Trump's acting attorney general in 2018 and 2019.

The three complaints came within days of each other. National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a conservative government watchdog, accused Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti Tuesday of illegally funneling money between political action committees (PACs) and private companies that were both controlled by Chakrabarti.

NLPC claims the transfers from the PACs to the LLCs were part of an "extensive" plan to avoid reporting campaign expenditures to the FEC. Ocasio-Cortez, for part, denied violating campaign finance laws in response to the complaint. "There is no violation," Ocasio-Cortez told Fox News.

But she has not yet fully responded to a Daily Caller News Foundation report Wednesday showing that both Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff obtained majority control over the Justice Democrats PAC in 2017, despite the fact that the PAC was credited with being the central force behind her primary victory.

She never disclosed her control over the PAC, leaving open the possibility that they could face serious criminal charges if it is found that they intentionally withheld the ties from the FEC. Ocasio-Cortez's office has not yet responded to TheDCNF's request for comment about FACT's complaint.