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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez paid for a rented MET Gala costume after the House Ethics Office asked about it.
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The Ethics Office also found that AOC had initially failed to pay her hairstylist and makeup artist.
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Ocasio-Cortez blamed election staff for not paying bills on time.
New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez paid for a rented MET Gala costume after the House Ethics Office asked about it, according to the bipartisan ethics body.
The Congressional Ethics Bureau found that Ocasio-Cortez staff initially did not pay for the rental dress, which featured the words “Tax the Rich” in red letters.
The AOC office also failed to pay her makeup artist, even though her office had been warned that the payments were “extremely high.” [sic] It’s overdue,” the agency claimed.
A bipartisan ethics body found that Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not pay her $477 hairstyling bill until February 2022, two days after the ethics body was contacted about the lack of payment. bottom.
In an interview with investigators, Ocasio-Cortez accused campaign staff of failing to pay for her dress and other accessories, according to the Ethics Office’s findings.
“And knowing what I’ve learned, I would never have let that happen, but I wasn’t involved with the bill. I wasn’t involved with what was sent. “It’s a very unfortunate situation,” she told investigators.
In addition, she admitted to investigators that she believed “there was a dropped ball.”
OCE appeared to agree, saying it found “substantial reason to believe that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez received an unforgivable gift in connection with his attendance at the 2021 Met Gala.”
In a statement, Ocasio-Cortez’s attorney said the star’s Democratic congressman “found these” [payment] The delay is unacceptable and she is taking steps to ensure that something like this does not happen again.”
“Unfortunately, however, the matter has never reached the level of violating House rules or federal law. There is no evidence that he intended to avoid costs.”
House Ethics Committee opened the probe for the first time .
“Congressmen have always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interest groups,” Hitt said in 2022.
Correction March 2, 2023: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated which Met Gala bills were flagged as expired. The notice cited in the Ethics Office complaint referred to a make-up bill, not an Ocasio-Cortez rental dress bill.
Read the original article at business insider