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AOC Faces Ethics Questions After Reports Show Her Chief of Staff '''
IJR ^ | February 20, 2019 | Madison Dibble

Posted on 02/20/2019 1:15:16 PM PST by COUNTrecount

AOC Faces Ethics Questions After Reports Show Her Chief of Staff Cut Checks to Her Boyfriend Using a PAC

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) may have had her current chief of staff pay her boyfriend using campaign PAC money, according to a report from Luke Thompson, a National Review contributor.

Thompson started down the trail of analyzing Ocasio-Cortez’s professional relationship with her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, after realizing that the congresswoman had Roberts listed as a staff member with his own house.gov email account.

While you were having a nice Valentine's Day, @AOC decided to put her boyfriend on staff – drawing a salary on the taxpayer's dime. Nice to see her adapting to the swamp so quickly. pic.twitter.com/bvncwzxY53

— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) February 15, 2019

As the tweet got more traction, Ocasio-Cortez responded, claiming that it was totally normal for members of the House to give their spouse — or in this case, significant other — an email address so they can see the member’s calendar.

Actually this cal designation is a permission so he can have access to my Google Cal. Congressional spouses get Gcal access all the time.

Next time check your facts before you tweet nonsense.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019

It didn’t take long for Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, to hop online to defend his boss. He tweeted to Thompson that Roberts doesn’t work for the office in any capacity and is not paid. The email account, according to Chakrabarti, is purely for logistical access.

He's not paid. We have no volunteers in the office. He's not doing any government work. He can see her calendar just like spouses/partners/family members in other congressional office. Check your damn facts before you report bullshit. Lazy journos need to learn to do their jobs.

— Saikat Chakrabarti (@saikatc) February 15, 2019

The next day, Thompson took a screenshot that shows Roberts listed as “staff” for Ocasio-Cortez despite their claims otherwise.

It also didn’t take long for Hill staffers — like Jordan Haverly, a communications director for Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) — to pull screenshots from the House IT guidelines showing that spouses, or boyfriends, are not supposed to have official house.gov email accounts.

Just going to leave this here. From the Committee on House Administration's IT policy. pic.twitter.com/Kd75nF17pT

— Jordan Haverly (@jhaverly) February 15, 2019

Fast-forward to Wednesday morning, and Thompson’s quest to find out if Roberts was officially hired by Ocasio-Cortez led him to another potential ethics violation by the Ocasio-Cortez team.

Thompson claims that Ocasio-Cortez worked with her current chief of staff, Chakrabarti, to make two payments totaling $6,000 to Roberts using campaign money from a PAC run by Chakrabarti.

Last week, @AOC and her Chief of Staff @saikatc (the rich guy in question) freaked out on me when I pointed out it looked like she'd hired her boyfriend. I did some digging in the FEC. Turns out Saikat has "hired" her boyfriend, before…just not to do any actual work.

— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) February 20, 2019

Chakrabarti ran a campaign strategy firm called Brand New Congress, LLC. Under that firm, he had a PAC that he used for the campaigns he assisted. Three payments listed on FEC forms caught the eye of Thompson.

The first payment was from Brand New Congress PAC to Roberts for $3,000. Prior to Ocasio-Cortez’s election, Roberts worked in web design, yet he was paid by Brand New Congress for marketing.

Skip ahead 18 days from the original payment made to Roberts, and Ocasio-Cortez cut a check to Brand New Congress, LLC for $6,191.32.

A month later, Brand New Congress PAC cut another check to Roberts for $3,000. So, in total, Chakrabarti received $6,191.32 from Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign, and within two months, Roberts received $6,000 from Chakrabarti for his work as a “marketing consultant.”

The payments to Roberts are the largest payments made by @BrandNew535 to any person or group other than Brand New Congress LLC. Oh, and Roberts doesn't work in marketing. pic.twitter.com/XN8AYl0l7J

— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) February 20, 2019

Thompson also noted that it appears they attempted to distance Roberts’ work with the campaign from the additional payments from Chakrabarti’s PAC by listing him under a different address in Arizona.

Roberts lists his residence as Arizona, where he's from, for the purposes of the disbursement, but for the in-kind work in 2018 and his cash donations to @AOC's campaign, he lists New York. Looks like a sad attempt to be sneaky. pic.twitter.com/lNAzmm4svP

— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) February 20, 2019

Thompson also alluded that Chakrabarti got his job in Ocasio-Cortez’s office because of the transaction.

“A rich guy used a PAC to pay [Ocasio-Cortez’s] boyfriend $6,000 when her campaign was running out of money. After AOC won, she gave that rich guy a job in her office,” he tweeted.

Chakrabarti has political success in his own right from managing Brand New Congress and his work with Justice Democrats, so his qualifications seem to go beyond a simple tit-for-tat situation, but Thompson thinks Chakrabarti did more than just hire Roberts.

In his Medium post, Thompson points to the amount of debt racked up by Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign as leverage that could have been used by Chakrabarti, writing:

By the end of 2017 she’d spent $37,249.94 but raised only $8,361.03. That’s a lot of money to stick on a credit card. Since no loans are recorded on her campaign books, presumably either AOC or Roberts was fronting the necessary cash.

It looks to me like Chakrabarti was effectively reimbursing AOC for a third of her expenses with Brand New Congress LLC, perhaps so that she would stay in the race despite her mounting debt.

While both Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti were quick to respond to Thompson’s report about Roberts’ house.gov email, they haven’t responded to his tweets about the payments to Roberts.


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: aoc; cenkuygur; davidkoller; saikatchakrabarti; subhaschandrabose
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To: COUNTrecount

She can just play dumb. Who won’t believe that?


61 posted on 02/20/2019 2:44:54 PM PST by Cementjungle
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To: Palio di Siena

Don’t forget real estate bought on spec by “informed buyers” who were counting on this deal going through.

Amazon’s HQ2 sends Long Island City home sale prices skyrocketing

https://nypost.com/2018/12/02/amazons-hq2-sends-long-island-city-home-sale-prices-skyrocketing/


62 posted on 02/20/2019 2:45:29 PM PST by COUNTrecount (If only Harvey Weinstein's bathrobe could talk.)
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To: COUNTrecount

As a well known NYC bus driver often remarked,”How sweet it is.”


63 posted on 02/20/2019 2:46:40 PM PST by Don Corleone (Nothing makes the delusional more furious than truth.)
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To: COUNTrecount

That didn’t take long.......


64 posted on 02/20/2019 2:53:36 PM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith......)
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To: Pearls Before Swine
Someone high up doesn’t like Sandy from Westchester- I’ll bet it’s an older ( much older) woman. The Night of the Long Knives begins tonight. I’d like to be a fly on the wall at Sandy’s place tonight.

😫😀😂

65 posted on 02/20/2019 2:55:10 PM PST by atc23
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To: madison10
She sure learned the dark side of being a Dem in hurry.

First she made threats even before she was like inaugurated.

Then she eliminated 25,000 jobs including city and state income taxes plus all the support jobs and taxes and real estate sales and construction union jobs that would come from Amazon building their new facilities.

Now I'm wondering if she will even be able to finish out her term. I hope she didn't sign a long term lease on that really expensive rental that she just got in Washington.

66 posted on 02/20/2019 2:59:21 PM PST by seawolf101 (Member LES DEPLORABLES)
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To: Palio di Siena
They will turn on her for the Amazon screw up. I don’t think this would have come out if she didn’t mess that up. Billions of dollars. 25k jobs. So much in kickbacks, no show jobs, union dues, construction contracts, waste management contracts, parking, etc. down the drain. She’s got some heavy weights ticked at her. I love it.

If this were a movie, Sandy from Westchester would be “missing” and eventually “at rest” beside Jimmy Hoffa.

67 posted on 02/20/2019 3:01:18 PM PST by atc23
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To: treetopsandroofs

Don’t forget your Pakistani handlers.


68 posted on 02/20/2019 3:01:44 PM PST by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: treetopsandroofs
Her sycophants have condescendingly insisted it was for email access, like all the other congresscritters are allowed for their b/gfriends, Chinese national spy chauffeurs, etc.

Reminds me of a kid that worked for me. One day he wanted to lay out, and said his girlfriend could come in to fill in. After I picked my jaw off the floor, I fired him.

69 posted on 02/20/2019 3:06:59 PM PST by numberonepal (WWG1WGA)
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To: COUNTrecount

Ooppp! She’s done pissed off too many people.


70 posted on 02/20/2019 3:10:56 PM PST by youngidiot (Admiral Mike Rogers is a hero.)
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To: COUNTrecount

Why, the dirty little snot.


71 posted on 02/20/2019 3:14:33 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: youngidiot

She told the truth about the Democrats. She royally ticked them off. Nothing sets a liar off more or quicker that telling the truth about them.


72 posted on 02/20/2019 3:16:22 PM PST by sport
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To: numberonepal

Haha, not quite related, but the closest I can come to it...

I worked with a guy who defined CPT, and besides being usually late for his shift, would laughingly “apologetically” come in an hour late for BOTH time changes.


73 posted on 02/20/2019 3:20:21 PM PST by treetopsandroofs
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To: atc23

Let’s hope you’re correct. Maybe this is the way the Dem Party organization self regulates.


74 posted on 02/20/2019 3:25:59 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine ( "It's always a party when you're eating the seed corn.")
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To: DungeonMaster
Yeah. She'll be at the ‘’tippy top’’ per centile.
75 posted on 02/20/2019 5:30:10 PM PST by jmacusa ("The more numerous the laws the more corrupt the government''.)
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To: ptsal

That didn’t take long. In character for a tip-swiper.


76 posted on 02/20/2019 6:11:52 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Schumer delenda est.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
There's really NO question, she's corrupt and unethical, as well as stupid. She's a Democrat. Thanks COUNTrecount.

77 posted on 02/21/2019 9:15:42 AM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: COUNTrecount

New Yorkers are really dumber than a boat load of rocks for electing this scum bucket. It’s disgusting.


78 posted on 02/21/2019 9:19:23 AM PST by Chgogal
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