Cori Bush said Thursday that she will continue to spend thousands of dollars in personal security because she has feared for her life, but at the same time reiterated her call for defunding police.
'I'm going to make sure I have security because, I know, I have had attempts on my life,' Bush told CBS News in an interview outside the Capitol. 'And I have too much work to do, there are too many people that need help right now, for me to allow that.'
'So if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend $10 more on it – you know what, I get to be here to do the work. So suck it up,' she added.
Bush, a 45-year-old mother of two, spent $69,120 in 'security services' from April 15 to June 28, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The payments were made to New York-based RS&T Security Consulting LLC and a Nathaniel Davis of St. Louis, Missouri.
Bush added in her Thursday interview: 'Defunding the police has to happen.'
'We need to defund police and put that money into social safety nets,' the freshman congresswoman from Missouri said.
The seemingly-conflicting comments drew swift and sharp criticism from Republicans.
Missouri progressive Representative Cori Bush, the newest member of the so-called 'squad', said Thursday that she would be willing to spend $200,000 on private security to protect her life while she still called for police departments to be defunded
'If I end up spending $200,000, if I spend $10 more on it – you know what... suck it up,' she said. It was revealed last week that Bush spent $69,120 in 'security services' in just two months, from April 15 to June 28
The criticism was sharp from Republicans. Rep. Lauren Boebert wrote said she thought the clip was 'parody'
'[Y]ou are a hypocrite and an elitist,' Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene began in a lengthy Twitter post Thursday railing against Bush.
'You don't care about the people, you only care about you,' she added in the tweet, which included a clip of Bush's interview with CBSN. 'You want to eradicate police from existence, take away guns to leave Americans defenseless, and create lawlessness all over our country.'
'You will pay endless amounts of money for private security for yourself because your security is clearly more important than the taxpayers who pay your salary and for your private security,' the Trump ally continued.
'I see you Cori. Faith healer. I don't think so, liar. I've seen you lie after you attacked me, then get a bigger office. Liar. You're a manipulator.'
'Climbing the ladder of power by deceptively using any and every tool you can find,' Greene added.
She accused: 'You are the BLM domestic terrorist Congresswoman who only represents the lawless rioters who devastated American cities in 2020 causing billions in damage resulting in deaths.'
Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a Trump ally, wrote: 'I actually thought this was a parody skit. No, it's real.'
'[Cori Bush] says she's important enough to have her own private security, but the police that protect the rest of America need to be defunded…' GOP Representative Jody Hice of Georgia tweeted on Thursday.
'The arrogance is outmatched only by the insanity,' he added.
Marjorie Taylor Greene issued a seven-tweet thread railing agains Bush as a 'hypocrite' and 'elitist' for her Thursday comments dismissing her spending on security but demands to get rid of protects for other Americans through police
Greene said Bush care more about her personal security than the safety of her constituents
She brought up Bush being involved in the BLM riot that breached a private neighborhood where Mark and Patty McCloskey live. They went viral in June for wielding guns toward the trespassing protesters
'I see you Cori,' Greene tweeted, sayign: 'So does everyone else'
Bush has spent several nights over the weekend and into this week sleeping in a camp chair on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building to protest a lapse in pandemic benefits pausing evictions for
