The House Ethics Committee rebuked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) for simultaneously claiming her longtime partner, Riley Roberts, is and isn’t her "spouse."
The committee's rebuke stemmed from a lengthy explanation Ocasio-Cortez's attorney provided to justify why the New York lawmaker accepted a free ticket worth $35,000 for Roberts to attend the 2021 Met Gala alongside her. At the time, that was a gift Ocasio-Cortez could only accept for her legally-married spouse. But Ocasio-Cortez has never been legally married. She has lived with Roberts since 2016 and the pair became engaged in 2022, but there's no evidence the couple has legally tied the knot, and Ocasio-Cortez hasn't been pictured wearing her engagement ring in public since
November 2023.
Despite that, to Ocasio-Cortez, "Roberts is considered a 'spouse'," her attorney, David Mitrani, explained to the House Ethics Committee in his
May 16 letter.
Roberts is only considered her "spouse" in context of federal campaign finance law, Mitrani said, an interpretation that Ocasio-Cortez has used to grant her partner several privileges typically afforded only to legally-married spouses of lawmakers. That includes securing Roberts his free ride to the 2021 Met Gala and later, in 2023, gifted travel to Japan and South Korea, the
Washington Free Beacon reported. Mitrani revealed in his letter that Roberts has also owned a congressional "spouse pin" ever since Ocasio-Cortez entered Congress in 2019, a bauble that grants him
access to parts of the Capitol complex not accessible to the public.
There are drawbacks to being a congressional spouse, such as having to disclose one's sources of income and financial holdings. But Roberts isn't subjected to those, Mitrani explained to the committee. That's because "under the Committee's … financial disclosure guidance, Mr. Roberts is not considered a spouse," Ocasio-Cortez's attorney wrote, adding that the couple hasn't yet "taken steps to bring the law or religion into their relationship."
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