Report: ‘Squad’ Member Ayanna Pressley Spent Thousands Of Taxpayers’ Dollars On Private Security

Defund the Police sympathizer and so-called “Squad” member Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) reportedly spent tens of thousands of dollars on private security, paid for by the American taxpayer, even as she has repeatedly pushed for defunding the police since being elected to Congress.

Pressley spent $63,000 of her Member Representational Allowance (MRA)–taxpayer-funded money through the fiscal year appropriations and authorized annually by the Committee on House Administration (CHA) to allow members’ offices to be appropriately funded–on “security service” in 2021, according to the Statement of Disbursements of the House records, reported the Daily Caller.

The $63,000 of Pressley’s taxpayer MRA was divided between $35,000 spent from May to August 2021 and $28,000 paid from October to December 2021, according to the report. The payments with the description “Security Service” appear to be directed to Alisa Tatarian, a U.S. House of Representatives financial administrator. But it is unclear where the money ended up, according to the report. The Daily Caller contacted Tatarian’s and Pressley’s offices about the money going to “Security Service” but did not get a response.

A Republican source told the news outlet that a financial administrator, who in this instance in Tatarian, typically handles disbursements and reimbursements for congressional members, so it is unlikely that Tatarian was paid for security services; likely she was simply listed in the disbursement process.

This comes to light as Pressley, like her “squad” colleagues, has been vocal about defunding the police. In a June 2020 interview with TIME, she said it is “about true reparations” and “investment in our communities which have historically been divested from.” And during an interview last summer with CNN, she asserted she stands by her support of defunding police, saying, “I support a radical reimagining of community safety and public safety, which means reallocating and not further investing in a carceral state.”

In response to this, the House Republican Conference Chair, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), told the Daily Wire that Pressley paid for this with funds from the American taxpayer while violent crimes are surging across the country:

Ayanna Pressley and her fellow Squad members have repeatedly called for our police to be defunded while simultaneously paying top dollar for their own private security with taxpayer funds. All while violent crime rates are surging across our cities. Pressley and the rest of the Squad want police for them but not for us. Democrats are the party of elitist hypocrites and defunding the police. The American people know this, and that is why this November there will be a red tsunami.

While the “squad” still stands for defunding the police, moderate Democrats appear to be shifting away from the movement, worried about their reelection chances. In fact, during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last week, he called on Congress to “FUND the police” and oppose any type of local efforts by his party and left-wing activists to “defund the police” in major cities amid a crime wave.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.