Explained: The GOP’s FEC complaint against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The GOP's campaign finance complaint against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her allies.

Freshman New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and several of her allies were accused this week by a conservative group of improperly masking political spending during the 2018 campaign.

Ocasio-Cortez is a vocal critic of untraceable money in politics, and the news provoked uproar from conservative media organizations. Campaign finance experts, however, caution that there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

How did we get here?

The conservative National Legal and Policy Center argued in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission on Sunday that Ocasio-Cortez and her allies “orchestrated an extensive off-the-books operation.” They requested an investigation, charging that political groups tied to Ocasio-Cortez and her advisers improperly obscured how money that they raised was spent. It was quickly snapped up by conservative media outlets like the Daily Caller and Washington Examiner, as well as tabloids like the New York Post.