AOC Hires Heavy Security, Ex-Blackwater
A view of Federal Election Commission records indicates New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez paid thousands to a former Blackwater contractor for security.
According to the New York Post, Ocasio-Cortez, who has been a vocal proponent of defunding the police, had her campaign pay at least $4,636 for "security services" to Tullis Worldwide Protection.
Since she arrived in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has insisted that shifting resources out of police departments and into communities is the best way to help those struggling.
"[Suburban] communities have lower crime rates not because they have more police but because they have more resources to support healthy society in a way that reduces crime," Ocasio-Cortez said in a 2020 social media post.
After New York defunded billions from police, Ocasio-Cortez maintained that "defunding police means defunding police."
While refusing to mention the specifics of his contract with Ocasio-Cortez, Tullis stated jokingly in an interview, "we're not hiring social workers."
Veteran Democratic strategist Jon Reinish said of Ocasio-Cortez, known popularly as AOC, that "out of one corner of her mouth she is attacking the police and out of the other she is hiring cops who have gone private to protect her. So AOC, which is it?"
In an effort to add a balanced perspective, Tullis highlighted that his time at Blackwater during the early 2000s was more on par with doing average security and not "running and gunning," as some people think.
"Everyone says Blackwater and they think guys running and gunning and killing overseas but that's just not the true story," Tullis stated. Most of the time it's "common everyday security stuff."
But the money Ocasio-Cortez's campaign paid Tullis was just a tiny piece of a more significant sum paid to protect the congresswoman. Reportedly, her campaign in 2021 paid $34,000 for security during its early stages. With the majority sum, $28,498, being paid to Three Bridges, LLC.
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/aoc-security-private-police/2021/08/01/id/1030750/