There is “substantial reason to believe” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accepted “impermissible gifts” linked to her 2021 attendance at the Met Gala, according to the Office of Congressional Ethics, raising the prospect that she broke House rules and possibly federal law.
The nonpartisan watchdog’s board recommended in June 2022 that the House review the allegations against Ocasio-Cortez, according to documents released on Thursday. The report comes the same day the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican accused of campaign finance violations. It has not launched a formal inquiry into Ocasio-Cortez.
The Ethics Committee announced in December that it was investigating Ocasio-Cortez, though it did not disclose the subject of its inquiry at the time. The move led to speculation, acknowledged on Thursday, that the review had to do with her attendance at the gala.
The lawmaker, who has denied any wrongdoing, attracted headlines for wearing a dress emblazoned with “Tax the Rich” to the event. The review centers on that dress, which she rented for the occasion, as well as accessories and hair and makeup services she received but apparently did not pay for until after a review had been initiated against her.
The Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body that refers matters to the House Ethics Committee, concluded in its report that if Ocasio-Cortez “accepted impermissible gifts, then she may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Lauren Hilt, a spokeswoman for Ocasio-Cortez, dismissed the idea that the congresswoman violated House rules and expressed confidence the Ethics Committee will dismiss the allegations against her.
“Though no Ethics violation has been found, the Office of Congressional Ethics (‘OCE’) did identify that there were delays in paying vendors for costs associated with the Congresswoman’s attendance at the Met Gala. The Congresswoman finds these delays unacceptable, and she has taken several steps to ensure nothing of this nature will happen again,” she said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“However, while regrettable, these delayed payments definitively do not rise to the level of a violation of House Rules. Even after OCE’s exhaustive review of the Congresswoman’s personal communications, there is no record of the Congresswoman refusing to pay for these expenses. To the contrary, there are several explicit, documented communications, from prior to OCE’s review, that show the Congresswoman fully understood that she had to pay for these expenses from her own personal funds — as she ultimately did,” she added.
