Congressional Ethics Committee Releases Update on Investigation Into AOC

There is an update on the ethics charges against AOC and her appearance at the Met Gala in 2021. The event usually charges $35,000 per ticket. If AOC accepted free tickets for herself and her boyfriend Riley Roberts bringing the total to at least $70,000. Of course, she could have paid for the tickets from her campaign fund, but that is illegal as well. The only way that what she did was legal is if she paid for the tickets out of her own funds. How likely do you think that is?

In September 2021, the National Legal and Policy Center joined the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) and filed ethics complaints against her. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the charity that receives the proceeds of the Met Gala, claims that she attended as a guest of the museum, but that is also illegal because she is not allowed to accept gifts for that amount of money. To add insult to injury, she wore a dress that said: “Tax the Rich.” Considering she still owes taxes to New York state for years ago, it is also very ironic.

The NLPC’s complaint states:

“Thus, because her boyfriend is not her ‘spouse or dependent,’ her acceptance of an ‘invite plus one’ to the Met Gala would violate the Gift Rule unless AOC or her boyfriend paid for his $35,000 ticket, an unlikely scenario.”

From The Gateway Pundit

Even the designer “Tax the Rich” mermaid gown that AOC wore might have violated the ethics rules. NLPC’s complaint argues that Ocasio-Cortez’s use of a custom “tax the rich” dress, even if borrowed as she claims, violates the gift rules because the designer used “valuable professional services in designing and making this one-of-a-kind dress.”

From The Guardian

The committee said: “The mere fact of a referral or an extension, and the mandatory disclosure of such an extension and the name of the subject of the matter, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the committee.”

A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez said: “The congresswoman has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interests. We are confident that this matter will be dismissed.”

The House ethics committee said it would announce its “course of action” after the new Congress convenes in January.

Ocasio-Cortez won her seat in Congress in 2018, after a shock primary victory over Joe Crowley, a senior House Democrat. She has since emerged as a leading figure among progressives, widely known as AOC and the target of rightwing invective and harassment.

In September 2021, the American Accountability Foundation filed an ethics complaint against Ocasio-Cortez “for accepting an impermissible gift” to attend the Met Gala.

Ocasio-Cortez made a splash at the $35,000-a-ticket New York society event, wearing a dress emblazoned with the slogan “Tax the Rich”. A spokesperson said: “She was invited as a guest of the Met. She also did not get to keep the dress.”