WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) dropped almost $50,000 on hotels and meals in Puerto Rico in the third quarter of this year — as well as renting a San Juan venue where she was caught on tape grooving at an August Bad Bunny concert.
AOC’s principal campaign committee shelled out $680.52 on July 28 to stay at the lavish Hotel Palacio Provincial, along with another $1,507.26 on Aug. 29 and a whopping $9,440,79 on Sept. 29, according to third quarter federal campaign finance filings — even as the “Squad” rep on her social media accounts denounced gentrification that was taking place on the island.
The “first-class,” “adults only” Palacio Provincial boasts of being “situated within an historic early 19th century building” with “transcendent hints of the structure’s grand colonial past.”
On Aug. 25, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress also paid $3,861.20 to Hotel El Convento, another 19th century property touting its “old world charm and elegance,” the Federal Election Commission filings show.
In all, the campaign forked over $15,489.77 for lodging in Puerto Rico between July 1 and Sept. 30.
At least $10,743.13 was spent on meals and catering services on Aug. 25 and Sept. 29, per the FEC filings for that period.
Elsewhere on the island, the 34-year-old Bronx and Queens Democrat danced alongside Brooklyn Rep. Nydia Velázquez at an Aug. 10 Bad Bunny concert held in San Juan as part of the anti-ICE rapper‘s “Residency tour.”
NBA star LeBron James, hip-hop artist Iggy Azalea, actress Penelope Cruz and actor Austin Butler were among the other attendees.
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign spent more than $23,000 on “venue rental” at the same location, the Coliseo De Puerto Rico, on June 24 and Aug. 25. It’s unclear whether the expenses were related to the Bad Bunny shows.
Fox News first reported on the filings, and a campaign manager for the congresswoman, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, responded in a statement to the outlet that Ocasio-Cortez “regularly travels to Puerto Rico to support local causes and host events that require both staff and security.”
“She is deeply proud of her investment in grassroots organizing and will continue to be active in advocating for both people on the island and the millions of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora,” Hidalgo-Wohlleben added.
Throughout the third quarter, the Ocasio-Cortez campaign spent thousands of dollars more on various “boutique” hotel stays and expensive food vendors on the US mainland — including as part of her “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Those outlays included $6,600 for stays at the Hotel Vermont in Burlington.
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign coffers also were used for $2,000 lodging at the Thompson Central Park Hotel in Manhattan — and a $3,000 stay at the Arlo Williamsburg in Brooklyn.
Other expenses included $6,300 for a meal at Italian restaurant Ama in the capitol’s Navy Yard neighborhood.
Another $11,500 was shelled out for dining in DC, Vermont, the Bronx and Latham, NY, ice cream company Mr. Ding-a-ling.
