AOC: I Have A Spouse When It’s Convenient

Is Riley Roberts AOC’s spouse, or not? It depends. AOC’s ethics are questionable. We’ve known that for years now. Particularly since the 2021 Met Gala where she and Roberts netted $35 grand or more in tickets and gifts. Well, now we find out that she’s been conveniently claiming Roberts is her spouse…sometimes.

The House Ethics Committee rebuked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) for simultaneously claiming her longtime partner, Riley Roberts, is and isn’t her “spouse.”

The committee’s rebuke stemmed from a lengthy explanation Ocasio-Cortez’s attorney provided to justify why the New York lawmaker accepted a free ticket worth $35,000 for Roberts to attend the 2021 Met Gala alongside her. At the time, that was a gift Ocasio-Cortez could only accept for her legally-married spouse. But Ocasio-Cortez has never been legally married. She has lived with Roberts since 2016 and the pair became engaged in 2022, but there’s no evidence the couple has legally tied the knot, and Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t been pictured wearing her engagement ring in public since November 2023.

Despite that, to Ocasio-Cortez, “Roberts is considered a ‘spouse’,” her attorney, David Mitrani, explained to the House Ethics Committee in his May 16 letter.

Roberts is only considered her “spouse” in context of federal campaign finance law, Mitrani said, an interpretation that Ocasio-Cortez has used to grant her partner several privileges typically afforded only to legally-married spouses of lawmakers. That includes securing Roberts his free ride to the 2021 Met Gala and later, in 2023, gifted travel to Japan and South Korea, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Mitrani revealed in his letter that Roberts has also owned a congressional “spouse pin” ever since Ocasio-Cortez entered Congress in 2019, a bauble that grants him access to parts of the Capitol complex not accessible to the public.

Did you get all that? Roberts is AOC’s spouse when it involves the cool stuff like CODEL’s to other countries and swanky affairs like the Met Gala. But he ISN’T her spouse when it is time to disclose Roberts income/spending/assets that is LEGALLY required by Congress. These are the federal laws that require spouses to disclose all their assets etc in order to ensure they aren’t working behind the scenes to profit from what their husband or wife is doing legislatively in Congress. 

It seems that Riley Roberts is a ghost when it comes to determining where he works and what his income is. None of that is disclosed by AOC through her office or her campaign. Thus, he’s not a spouse legally. 

But he is if you count the fact he has a Congressional “spouse pin” in order to roam the non-public halls of Congress, or get to fly off to Japan, or attend the Met Gala. Pretty convenient isn’t it? 

The explanation by AOC’s attorney is definitely some pretzel legalese. 

The Committee’s May 5, 2025 letter states that there is “no legitimate basis” for the assertion that, as of September 13, 2021, the Congresswoman’s now-fiancé Riley Roberts was a permissible guest at the event, and that the Committee is considering finding that the Congresswoman “impermissibly accepted a gift of free admission to the Met Gala for Mr.Roberts.”

This is simply not correct and would be inconsistent with the law applicable at the time. For one, it is crucial to note that OCE found that Mr. Roberts was a permissible guest as a “spouse” – stating “Consistent with prior decisions, the OCE Board opted to treat a long-term significant other as synonymous with a spouse.”11 This in and of itself is a legitimate basis for the Committee to do the same.

The Committee now saying that Mr. Roberts’ attendance was impermissible nearly four years later would not only be inconsistent – two ethics bodies interpreting the same laws making opposite findings – it would bring Mr. Roberts, a private figure, back into the public eye for no fault of his own. The Committee – which it correctly notes has expanded its guidance beyond a broader view of “spouse”to allow “any guest” under the charitable event exemption – would be saying that the Congresswoman was right in premise that the Committee adopted a year later, but the Committee had not yet caught up to the reasoning as to why.

In other words, since they’ve been dating for so long, Riley Roberts IS AOC’s spouse when it’s convenient for them. As for the legal and religious definition of a spouse, AOC’s attorney literally argues that doesn’t apply when discussing her ethical violations over her Met Gala appearance. 

When a husband is a husband… until he isn’t. That’s how they are playing this game. Keep in mind, AOC was literally threatened with legal action from several of the vendors involved in order to get paid. Which is how the ethics probe started in the first place. 

AOC’s spouse game is quite lit. 

There are drawbacks to being a congressional spouse, though.

That includes public disclosure of their financial affairs.

But Roberts isn’t subjected to those drawbacks, AOC’s attorney said, because under “financial disclosure guidance, Mr. Roberts is not considered a spouse” pic.twitter.com/elIgcKrMUd

— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) August 4, 2025

Riley Roberts does have income and assets? Who knows. We don’t get to ask for that since he’s not really a husband, only sort of one. 

Feature Photo Credit: Original artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click

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