An anti-corruption lawyer warned Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) staff against accepting an invite from Vogue to attend the Met Gala, emails show.
The lawyer warned that Vogue's parent company, Advance Media Publications, was a registered lobbyist and appeared to suggest that she could attend the gala if she had an invite from event organizers. Ocasio-Cortez and her boyfriend accepted the tickets to the gala.
AOC'S MET GALA DRAMA EXPLAINED
"The Congresswoman could accept an invitation from [the Met], but not from Vogue," the lawyer wrote, according to documents released by the Congressional Ethics Committee. "Since Advance Publications is a registered lobbyist, we'll need to be extra careful!"
Ocasio-Cortez's outing at the Met Gala in 2021 sparked widespread attention. She donned a dress reading"Tax the Rich" at the event, which is an annual fundraising gala for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City.
A slew of watchdog groups filed complaints after revelations emerged that she and her boyfriend, with whom she has since become engaged, scored tickets that cost $35,000 apiece. There were also questions about Ocasio-Cortez's "borrowed" dress, her sitting at a sponsored table possibly valued up to $300,000, and having a limousine ride.
Documents from the Congressional Ethics Committee trove clarified that the invitation information Ocasio-Cortez and her boyfriend received showed they were “guests of Vogue.” Following her outing, a Vogue staffer contacted Ocasio-Cortez's team and suggested they describe her as a guest of Anna Wintour, Vogue's editor-in-chief.
“Hope the [C]ongresswoman had a great time last night! … [W]e have had a number of inquiries ... Mainly from Page Six ... Given that she was a guest of [V]ogue, we were planning to say ... she was a guest of Anna [Wintour]’s. ... wanted to check with you,” the email said, as reported by the New York Post.
Last week, the Ethics Committee revealed that it is investigating the matter and released a report from the Office of Congressional Ethics on the debacle. The report outlined a series of allegedly delayed and discounted reimbursements from Ocasio-Cortez for makeup, hair, transportation, hotel costs, and more.
For instance, her designer dress rental was priced at $1,300, but her staff negotiated the price down to $300.
"The Committee notes that the mere fact of conducting further review of a referral, and any mandatory disclosure of such further review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee," it said in a statement.
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OCE relegated the matter to the Congressional Ethics Committee last year. Ocasio-Cortez has shrugged off the ethics scrutiny and maintained that the matter will likely be dropped.
“While regrettable, these delayed payments definitively do not rise to the level of a violation of House Rules," spokespeople for Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Examiner. "Even after OCE’s exhaustive review of the congresswoman’s personal communications, there is no record of the congresswoman refusing to pay for these expenses.”