AOC likely broke ‘impermissible gifts’ law with Met Gala appearance, says House ethics office

Star Democratic lawmaker’s lawyer says there is no evidence she ever tried to avoid making payments

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez likely broke the “impermissible gifts” law over a rented dress she wore to the 2021 Met Gala, says the House ethics office.

The board of the Office of Congressional Ethics has recommended that the House keep reviewing allegations against the Democratic lawmaker from New York, according to documents released on Thursday.

The allegations surround a white dress which featured the words “Tax the Rich” in red letters, which her office failed to pay for until the non-partisan ethics office asked about it.

The office found that the lawmaker’s office had not paid a make-up professional despite notices that stated payments were, in the words of the make-up artist’s representatives, “EXTREMEMLY [sic] overdue.”

And it was also discovered that her office had not paid a $477 bill for hair styling until February 2022, two days after the watchdog made contact about the issue.

“The Board finds that there is substantial reason to believe that Rep Ocasio-Cortez accepted impermissible gifts associated with her attendance at the Met Gala in 2021,” the ethics agency said on Thursday.

And it added that if Ms Ocasio-Cortez “accepted impermissible gifts, then she may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.”

During her interview with the agency, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said she had no knowledge of why her office had not made the necessary payments.

“And I just never, ever, ever would have allowed that to happen knowing what I have learned, but that I wasn’t privy to the invoices, wasn’t privy to the ones that had been sent,” she told investigators.

“And it is just a deeply regrettable situation. I feel terrible for especially the small businesses that were impacted.”

In a statement, a lawyer for Ms Ocasio-Cortez, David Mitrani, said that the congresswoman “finds these [payment] delays unacceptable, and she has taken several steps to ensure nothing of this nature will ever happen again.”

“However, while regrettable, this matter definitively does not rise to the level of a violation of House Rules or of federal law. Even after OCE’s exhaustive review of the Congresswoman’s personal communications, there is no evidence that she ever intended to avoid these expenses,” said the statement.

“To the contrary, the record clearly shows that the Congresswoman always understood that she had to pay for these expenses personally – and she even worked with the undersigned counsel prior to the event to ensure that she complied with all applicable ethics rules.”