As Matt covered earlier, socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made an appearance at the Met Gala in New York City Monday night. She wore a white dress with large red letters on the back reading, "Tax The Rich."
Rep. @AOC on the #MetGala red carpet in a dress that reads Tax the Rich. pic.twitter.com/nq87zCdm8z
— The Recount (@therecount) September 13, 2021
A ticket to the Met Gala costs $30,000. A table nabs $275,000. So, how did she get in? Here's her explanation.
And before haters get wild flying off the handle, New York elected officials are routinely invited to and attend the Met due to our responsibilities in overseeing and supporting the city’s cultural institutions for the public. I was one of several in attendance in this evening.??
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 14, 2021
But there are questions about the legality of her attendance, especially when it comes to election laws, donations and what she may owe to the IRS if her ticket was a gift.
Either @AOC paid $30,000 to attend the MET Gala
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) September 14, 2021
Or she received a $30,000 gift
If its the latter, I hope she pays her taxes on it which in her bracket would be around 32-35%
So she should owe $9,600
If it cost $30,000 to get into the Met Gala and @AOC was given a free ticket
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) September 14, 2021
How does this work FEC-wise?
Is this an illegal contribution
Can politicians be given a check for $30,000? pic.twitter.com/Zl92kT2W55
Or, Ocasio-Cortez purchased the ticket herself, putting her well out of the "working class" category she claims to be a part of.
Back in 2019 Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff were accused in an FEC complaint of illegally moving nearly $1 million in political funds to private companies.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Saikat Chakrabarti, the progressive firebrand's multimillionaire chief of staff, apparently violated campaign finance law by funneling nearly $1 million in contributions from political action committees Chakrabarti established to private companies that he also controlled, according to an explosive complaint filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and obtained by Fox News.
Amid the allegations, a former FEC commissioner late Monday suggested in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation that Ocasio-Cortez and her team could separately be facing major fines and potentially even jail time if they were knowingly and willfully violating the law by hiding their control of the Justice Democrats political action committee (PAC). Such an arrangement could have allowed Ocasio-Cortez's campaign to receive donations in excess of the normal limit, by pooling contributions to both the PAC and the campaign itself.