Cori Bush asked supporters to help St. Louis tornado victims through a new nonprofit bearing her political brand.
More than a year later, the public still cannot see how much that appeal raised or where the tornado money went.
Missouri’s attorney general has now opened an investigation.
Fox News revisited the case Saturday and described two fundraising emails signed by Bush after the deadly May 2025 tornado tore through St. Louis.
The messages introduced Politivist Power as a new 501(c)(4) organization combining grassroots activism with political strategy. Bush said her team was helping residents on the ground and asked recipients to donate to a tornado fund so the relief work could continue.
Each solicitation carried a disclaimer saying contributions to Politivist Power were separate from Politivist Action PAC and were not political donations. That promise makes the relationship between the nonprofit and the PAC especially important.
Fox said it could locate no public IRS record showing that Politivist Power had obtained or claimed recognized tax-exempt status, and no public Form 990 has surfaced. Bush did not answer the outlet’s questions about donations, tax filings or the organization’s work.
Those missing records raise fair questions, although they do not establish a crime.
A 501(c)(4) social-welfare group operates under rules that allow some political activity and provide less donor disclosure than a traditional campaign committee.
The Internal Revenue Service says a group intending to operate under section 501(c)(4) generally must submit Form 8976 within 60 days of formation.
That notice tells the IRS the organization exists, where it was formed and its stated purpose. The IRS acknowledges the submission, while the notice itself is exempt from the public-disclosure requirement.
A group may separately seek a formal IRS determination through Form 1024-A, though that application is optional for organizations operating as 501(c)(4)s. A missing result in the IRS public search therefore cannot prove that no notice was filed.
Annual returns offer a clearer public accounting, but timing also requires care. A calendar-year organization’s first Form 990 would normally be due May 15, 2026, and an automatic extension could move that deadline to November 15.
The unanswered issue reaches beyond one IRS search.
Public campaign-finance filings show repeated financial transactions between Politivist Power and a political committee carrying the same brand.
The Federal Election Commission identifies Politivist Action PAC as a hybrid political committee with a non-contribution account.
The PAC’s filings list $6,300 in cash receipts from Politivist Power across three transactions: $4,500 in May 2025, $1,000 in September 2025 and $800 in January 2026. The first payment predates the tornado, an important limit on what the transaction proves.
The records also list about $24,927 in in-kind fundraising, software and consulting services connected to Politivist Power. Corresponding entries appear in the PAC’s disbursement records as part of the committee’s accounting for those services.
The same non-contribution account paid salaries to Bush and her husband, Courtney Merritts, during 2025. Public filings do not trace tornado-relief donations into any particular salary payment, so the records show a financial relationship rather than proof of diversion.
That distinction matters because the official investigation began with an allegation, not a finding.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway says her office is examining whether money solicited for tornado victims moved into political activity or personally benefited Bush.
The attorney general announced the investigation in a direct public statement:
Hanaway’s office has been equally clear about what it has established so far.
Fox quoted the attorney general saying the investigation followed local reporting that donations intended for tornado relief may have gone to political activity. She added that her office did not yet possess independent evidence of that allegation.
Bush has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
That leaves an investigation with a defined set of questions and no announced conclusion.
KSDK first assembled the donor emails, federal filings and public-record gaps that put the issue in front of the attorney general.
The station asked Bush how much the tornado appeal collected, where the money went and what role she currently holds with Politivist Power. Bush responded that she could not discuss a PAC as a candidate, even after the reporter clarified that the question concerned the nonprofit.
Her campaign then moved the interview forward without supplying the figures. Bush did say that her team had performed relief work after the tornado, but the amount raised and the recipients of the donations remained unanswered.
Those basic facts should be easy for any organization soliciting disaster money to provide. Donors deserve a total, a list of relief expenditures and a clear explanation of every transfer between the nonprofit and its affiliated political committee.
The timing gives those questions immediate political weight.
Bush is trying to win back Missouri’s 1st Congressional District from Representative Wesley Bell in the August 4 Democratic primary.
Her campaign message Saturday emphasized getting big money out of politics and putting people over profit:
Voters across the country have been sending a message this year: get big money out of politics. I’m proud to have never taken a dime from corporations or AIPAC.
Now, we’re going back to Congress to put people over profit and fight for Medicare for All, universal childcare, and… pic.twitter.com/GhzNUclqwl
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) July 25, 2026
That promise invites a straightforward test.
Bush can publish the tornado fund’s receipts and expenditures, document Politivist Power’s tax filings and explain the transfers already visible in federal records.
If the money reached families, supplies and recovery work as donors were told, the books can show it.
If the organization received an IRS extension or operated under a valid self-declared 501(c)(4) status, Bush can say so and provide the appropriate documentation.
Silence serves no one, especially the residents whose destroyed homes and grief were used to make the fundraising appeal urgent.
The attorney general’s investigation should follow the money wherever it leads and publish the facts when the work is complete.
Until then, the responsible conclusion is narrow and unavoidable. No wrongdoing has been proven.
The public accounting Bush’s donors deserve is still missing.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up. View the original article here.
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