The House Ethics Committee has issued a reprimand to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) over her inconsistent use of the term "spouse" in reference to her long-term partner, Riley Roberts.
The controversy arose from a detailed explanation provided by Ocasio-Cortez's attorney, David Mitrani, in an attempt to justify why the New York congresswoman accepted a complimentary ticket valued at $35,000 for Roberts to accompany her to the 2021 Met Gala.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, the acceptance of such a gift was permissible only for a legally married spouse, a status that Ocasio-Cortez does not hold. Despite living with Roberts since 2016 and their engagement in 2022, there is no evidence to suggest that the couple has legally married. Ocasio-Cortez has not been seen wearing her engagement ring in public since November 2023.
In his letter to the House Ethics Committee dated May 16, Mitrani stated that "Roberts is considered a 'spouse'" by Ocasio-Cortez. However, this interpretation is only applied in the context of federal campaign finance law, an interpretation that has allowed Ocasio-Cortez to extend several privileges typically reserved for legally married spouses of lawmakers to Roberts. These privileges include a complimentary ticket to the 2021 Met Gala and later, in 2023, gifted travel to Japan and South Korea.
Mitrani also disclosed in his letter that Roberts has held a congressional "spouse pin" since Ocasio-Cortez entered Congress in 2019. This pin grants him access to areas of the Capitol complex that are not open to the public.
However, the attorney also clarified that Roberts is not subjected to the financial disclosure requirements that come with being a congressional spouse, as "under the Committee's financial disclosure guidance, Mr. Roberts is not considered a spouse."
The Ethics Committee expressed its disapproval of Ocasio-Cortez's inconsistent use of the term "spouse" in the footnotes of its July report, which ordered Ocasio-Cortez to repay $3,000 in impermissible gifts she received when she attended the 2021 Met Gala in her notorious "Tax the Rich" dress.
The committee noted that while Ocasio-Cortez was seeking to exploit exceptions to the Gift Rule applicable only to spouses and/or certain relatives, she was not disclosing Mr. Roberts's financial interests as required of Members who are legally married.
The financial dealings of Roberts, whom Ocasio-Cortez occasionally refers to as her "spouse," remain a mystery. It is unclear whether he is employed, owns any business entities, his debts, his assets, or if he buys or trades stocks in companies that fall under Ocasio-Cortez's congressional jurisdictioninformation that the spouses of her legally married colleagues disclose to the public annually.
Federal laws requiring lawmakers' spouses to disclose their financial affairs to the public are designed to prevent congressional spouses from profiting from their partner's position in Congress or being used as a conduit to influence legislation. However, Ocasio-Cortez's proposed Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act, which would ban congressional spouses from buying or selling stocks, would impose further restrictions on spousal activities, with one notable exception: her own "spouse."
Ocasio-Cortez's office has not responded to numerous requests for comment regarding whether Roberts participates in the stock market, nor has she acknowledged that her "spouse" would be exempt from her own proposed legislation to ban the spouses of her colleagues from trading stocks, provided they never legally marry.
Kendra Arnold, the executive director of the nonpartisan ethics watchdog Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, questioned whether Ocasio-Cortez or Roberts have something to hide. "It is fair to question her inconsistent treatment of Roberts as her spouse, and specifically whether this is in an attempt to not disclose financial information," Arnold told the Free Beacon.
The House Ethics Committee did not accept Ocasio-Cortez's inconsistent use of the term "spouse" and ordered her to donate $250 to the charity that operates the Met Gala to reimburse the cost of Roberts's meal at the 2021 event. "Representative Ocasio-Cortez impermissibly accepted a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for Mr. Roberts, even if she was acting on the advice of her counsel," the committee wrote.
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, the senior government affairs manager at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, criticized Ocasio-Cortez for not living up to her ethical obligations as a member of the House. "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck. It's a duck," Hedtler-Gaudette told the Free Beacon. "In this case, it sounds like for all intents and purposes, Roberts is Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez's spouse."
Paul Kamenar, an attorney with the conservative watchdog group National Legal and Policy Center, expressed his indignation at the suggestion from Ocasio-Cortez's attorney that she didnt want to bring the "law or religion" into her relationship with Roberts. "It's an affront to Members of Congress who are legally married and abide by the disclosure rules," Kamenar said.
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