Cori Bush's security guard husband is STILL being paid $5,000 per month by her campaign as the Justice Department investigates alleged 'misuse' of funds

Progressive 'Squad' member Rep. Cori Bush is continuing to dish out cash to her security guard husband despite a federal probe into her alleged misuse of campaign funds for security purposes.

Her most recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing reveals her campaign paid her husband Cortney Merritts - who works as her personal security guard - $15,000 in the first quarter of 2024. 

That brings the total amount she has paid him to over $135,000. Bush has regularly paid Merritts $5,000 a month since January 2022, her filings indicate. 

The two got married in a private ceremony in February 2023, well after Merritts began working as her personal security agent on her $750,000 detail. 

The continuing flow of cash to Merritts comes after she confirmed in January that the Department of Justice is investigating her for potentially misusing $750,000 campaign funds. 

Bush said at the time that she is cooperating with all the pending investigations and called the complaints filed against her 'frivolous.'

Bush's most recent FEC filing indicates she continues to pay her husband $5,000 a month despite a federal probe into her security payments

'As a rank-and-file member of Congress I am not entitled to personal protection by the House, and instead have used campaign funds as permissible to retain security services,' the Missouri Democrat said in a January statement.

'I have not used any federal tax dollars for personal security services. Any reporting that I have used federal funds for personal security is simply false.'

The Democrat who represents St. Louis, Missouri, has spent thousands on security services out of her campaign account since getting elected in 2020. 

She has also been one of the most fervent and outspoken supporters of the defund the police movement.

Before Merritts began working as a security guard for Bush he also oversaw a moving company in St. Louis. 

Kendra Arnold, executive director for ethics watchdog the Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust (FACT) told DailyMail.com at the time that 'a host of other possible charges' for Bush are possible.

That's because in any campaign finance case, documents submitted to the FEC 'must be accurate,' she explained. 

In March 2023, FACT filed a complaint about Bush's campaign expenditures with the FEC. 

Arnold told DailyMail.com that the language on Bush's FEC filings changed after her group filed the complaint - which could be an issue for the congresswoman.

Bush changed her description of her payments to her husband from 'security' to 'wage expenses,' Arnold said, calling it 'troubling.' 

In addition to abusing campaign funds for personal use, Bush could potentially be on the hook for perjury, filing a false statement and mail fraud. 

Cori Bush and her now-husband Cortney Merritts together at the 2020 inauguration

'At that time, we believed strongly that there were several facts that led to a need for an investigation into the into Rep. Bush's payments to her then husband,' Arnold told DailyMail.com about the initial filing.

'They were the amount that she was paying [Merritts], the fact that he reportedly didn't have a license to perform the security services and that she was also paying other individuals and another vendor for those same services.'

Merritts did not have the appropriate licensing to perform security services in St. Louis - the district his wife represents - or Washington, D.C., at the time FACT filed their complaint, according to a Fox News report. 

The D.C. Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, that runs the licensing database, did not immediately return request for comment. 

'That complaint is still pending before the FEC,' Arnold added. 'And we won't get a result back until they are done with that and have voted on it.'

The DOJ's investigation, meanwhile, may take a while to complete. 

'The next step really is waiting for the DOJ to conduct its work, and how long that takes varies,' Arnold said. 

'There's no way for us to tell what exactly they're looking at, and what precisely what evidence they're gathering,' she added.

'So it's really just a waiting game at this point to let them do their job.'

Bush, R-Mo., married Cortney Merritts in a private ceremony in February 2023

Bush and Merritts are seen here with President Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden during a Christmas party at the White House

The investigation against Bush has rattled both House Republicans and Democrats. 

'If she has violated the law and she's indicted, and she's found guilty, then she obviously should be removed, 100 percent,' Moskowitz, D-Fla., told DailyMail.com in January. 

Republican Tim Burchett of Tennessee previously told DailyMail.com the DOJ 'should throw the book at her' because of the 'crazy amount of money' she has spent on security.

'She hired her husband who wasn't qualified to be that form of security guard,' he added. 'Well I guess were going to have to decide that; are we going to allow that activity to happen.'