Ex-'Squad' Dem appears to be leaning on radical activist at center of damning Tlaib report in comeback bid

FIRST ON FOX: A former "Squad" House Democrat running for her old seat recently dished out over $20,000 to a consulting firm that appears to be the same firm that Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., received backlash over after paying out over $400K for "fundraising consulting" between 2020 and 2024.

A Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission filings reveals Cori Bush’s House campaign paid $23,761 to "Unbought Power," which appears to still be under the leadership of far-left activist Rasha Mubarak. 

Bush, who is currently running to reclaim the seat she lost in 2024 in Missouri's 1st Congressional District, reported two separate disbursements of $12,761 and $11,000 to Unbought Power on Dec. 5. The expense description on both disbursements was also "Fundraising Consulting."

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While Unbought Power is a Florida-based political consulting firm that was founded by Mubarak in March 2020, Bush's most recent FEC filing lists Unbought Power's address as the same P.O. Box as the Bush campaign's P.O. Box, prompting multiple inquiries from Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Bush campaign and Mubarak multiple times about the payments and whether this was the same company, but neither responded. 

Mubarak recently came under fire in a new report released earlier this week by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, which was exposing Tlaib's ties to radical groups. 

Mubarak and Unbought Power were included in the report, highlighting her affiliation "with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2009 Holy Land Foundation terror-financing trial."

"Mubarak has also been a speaker at events held by the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), an organization that promoted the BDS movement," the report continued.  "Previously, in September 2023, she served as the press contact for the Arizona-based non-profit Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ), which was investigated for ties to Samidoun, an anti-Israel advocacy group banned in Germany, Canada, and Israel and classified as a terrorist entity in the United States for financing the PFLP."

Caitlin Sutherland, the executive director of Americans for Public Trust, told Fox News Digital that "Personnel is policy. Hiring a consultant with such a well-documented track record of anti-American and antisemitic ideas tells us everything we need to know about Cori Bush’s priorities." 

Mubarak, a Palestinian American activist, has been involved in grassroots advocacy for over 15 years. She has publicly called for defunding the police multiple times. In April 2021, she tweeted that she believes the United States should "abolish the police." Before that, in two separate tweets from July 2020, Mubarak called for Orange County, California, to "defund the police." 

The Florida activist has also tweeted about her involvement with Dream Defenders, an activist group co-founded by self-described socialist and former Bernie Sanders surrogate Phillip Agnew, who faced backlash for saying Zionism is a "racist, exploitative, and exclusionary ideology."

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Dream Defenders has been vocal about defunding the police across their social media platforms. 

In a now-deleted social media post, Mubarak tweeted a link to Dream Defenders' "Sunday School" session video about how to defund the police and encouraged her followers to donate to their bail fund amid the riots in summer 2020. She also encouraged her followers to donate to the Dream Defenders organization.

Mubarak has also repeatedly criticized Israel, accusing Israel of "ongoing ethnic cleansing" weeks before Hamas' terrorist attack on innocent civilians. She also has a history of criticizing Israel over what she calls its "state-sanctioned violence."

"These aren't clashes – it's an ongoing occupation," the Palestinian activist tweeted in May 2021. "These aren't evictions – they are forced expulsions. This isn't a conflict – it's settler colonialism, it's ethnic cleansing, it's oppression, it's apartheid."

"Say it loud. Say it clear. Palestine will be FREE," she added.

In 2022, Fox News Digital reported that Tlaib’s campaign and PAC sent Unbought Power 32 checks totaling $204,000 for fundraising consulting. Mubarak simultaneously acted as treasurer of Tlaib's leadership PAC, Rooted in Community Leadership, which donated almost $8,000 to Bush's past campaigns.

The Squad Victory Fund, a joint fundraiser that props up the campaigns and leadership committees of the far-left Squad members, including Bush, also dished out over $85K to Unbought Power between 2022 and 2023. The joint fundraiser would go on to transfer almost $60K to Bush's campaign between 2022 and 2024.

Washington Examiner reported in 2024 that Tlaib's campaign manager announced the campaign had severed its ties with Mubarak in an automated email saying, "Our campaign is no longer working with Rasha Mubarak’s firm Unbought LLC, so if you need any assistance in fundraising or have questions on how to support congresswoman Tlaib, please know I am here to help." 

Bush recently took flack for complaining on social media that Congress doesn’t prioritize public transit funding, even though she once was part of a cohort of radical lawmakers who voted against a bill providing billions for transit improvements because it didn’t allocate enough money for their far-left agenda.

Bush was just one of five other Democratic Party lawmakers, all part of the progressive group dubbed "The Squad," who voted against the 2021 bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, despite it allocating up to $108 billion for public transit investments. Bush and her other far-left colleagues at the time wanted more money to also be allocated to environmental and social programs, like funding for universal pre-K, Medicare and Medicaid expansions, affordable housing, green infrastructure, a Civilian Climate Corps, and also included oil drilling and leasing bans.

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At the time of "The Squad's" stand against the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Bush argued that she "didn't come to Congress to allow [her constituents'] priorities to be put on a shelf."

Meanwhile, Bush lamented to her followers on social media last week – amid her run to regain her position in the House – that funding for public transit is not prioritized in Congress. She implied this was a major problem because transit funding, Bush said, "is essential in meeting the most basic needs" of her constituents.

When Fox News Digital reached out for comment on the discrepancy, a campaign spokesperson commented that "Universal pre-K, expanded Medicare, the Child Tax Credit, and lower prescription drug prices were all policies that Missouri’s 1st District sent the Congresswoman to DC to win." 

The spokesperson said Bush has "been clear and consistent on this: her vote was because the infrastructure bill was uncoupled from Build Back Better, which contained those policies. With so much on the line for St. Louis and the nation, the Congresswoman wanted to fight for more, not settle for less."