According to an explosive new analysis from the website 1945, far-left congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could be in serious legal trouble after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into her earlier this month.
“Pursuant to House Rule XI, clause 3(b)(8)(A), and Committee Rules 17A(b)(1)(A),17A(c)(1), and 17A(j), the Acting Chairwoman and Acting Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics have jointly decided to extend the matter regarding Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which was transmitted to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics on June 23, 2022,” a press release from the committee said on December 7th.
“The Committee notes that 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. The Committee will announce its course of action in this matter following its organizational meeting and adoption of Committee Rules in the 118th Congress,” the release added.
According to 1945, this investigation could leave Ocasio-Cortez in serious legal trouble.
The website speculates that the investigation is in response to Ocasio-Cortez’s infamous MET Gala appearance where she was wearing a white and red “Tax the Rich” dress.
Read the analysis below:
AOC had made considerable waves not for just attending the high-profile Met Gala, where tickets for the social event cost a reported $35,000, but for her choice to wear a designer dress emblazoned with the slogan “Tax the Rich.”
She reportedly was invited as a guest of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and did not keep the dress. The New York Congresswoman, who won her seat in 2018 following a shock primary victory over Joe Crowley, a senior House Democrat, quickly emerged as a leading figure among progressives. Ethics watchdogs have accused AOC of violating House rules by improperly accepting other gifts.
Lawmakers are, in fact, allowed under chamber regulations to take free tickets to charity events directly from organizers — and The New York Post has reported that Ocasio-Cortez and her now-fiancé Riley Roberts were directly invited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yet, some watchdogs counter that the allowance wouldn’t apply to the Met Gala, since the invitations are controlled by a for-profit company – in this case, media conglomerate Conde Nast – while the tables, which cost $300,000, are sponsored by corporate entities.The American Accountability Foundation has claimed that Meta-owned Instagram had purchased access to the congresswoman that isn’t available to the average American citizen by sponsoring a table at the gala. A second ethics complaint had also been filed by the National Legal and Policy Center over the dress she wore to the star-studded event. The Brother Vellies gown constituted an impermissible gift because it was “directly related to AOC’s ‘position with the House’ as a highly visible and controversial Member,” the complaint alleged. “If AOC had not been a Member, she would not have been invited to the Gala,” the NLPC complaint read, “and even if she would have been invited as a private citizen, the designer would not have made a special dress for her to wear at the event.” Then there is the fact that even if she didn’t keep the actual dress, she was gifted fashion accessories and provided various grooming services, which could be the issue in this case. If that wasn’t the least of her problems, it should be noted there have been other complaints that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has failed to file required financial disclosure forms on time.
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