Geoff Earle and Gabrielle Fahmy report in the New York Post:
This fundraiser is for the birds.
Power-hungry “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) cooked up a new way to have her cake and eat it too this Thanksgiving – by tying her annual turkey giveaway to her massive reelection campaign enterprise. And critics are crying fowl.
“Thanksgiving is two weeks away,” the self-described “Bronx girl” wrote in an email pitch last week. “Will you chip in $5 or anything you can today to help us bring the joy of the holiday season into homes around NYC this year?”
Also from the story:
Instead of having supporters send donations directly to community organizations organizing turkey drives — like she did in 2021 when she reported raising $33,589.64 for three local charities — she’s having people send money to her campaign.
And:
“She’s pitching: give it to me to help out people, and then it says it’s going to her benefit,” said Paul Kamenar of the National Legal and Policy Center. It’s a “shady deal she’s cooking up here. It appears that AOC’s turkey giveaway project may be a fraudulent scheme to solicit donations for her campaign.”
“Clearly, a full investigation and audit need to be conducted.”
