Rep. Yassamin Ansari, a 34-year-old Arizona Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is in a sexual relationship with Jack Cocchiarella, a progressive YouTuber who sits on the creator council of Chorus, according to multiple sources familiar with the alleged romantic involvement. Chorus’s influencer program has been under Oversight Committee investigation for nearly a year.
Ansari was at Cocchiarella’s residence for his 24th birthday party on Friday, according to sources in attendance, with one source describing them as having a flirtatious dynamic with the congresswoman and helping set up ahead of the gathering kicking off.
It was not a one-off, according to other sources.
The pair appeared affectionate at the MS NOW party during White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend, according to screenshots of text messages from multiple confirmed MS NOW party attendees describing what they had witnessed. Two others confirmed they saw the pair together at the party. One source said Cocchiarella confirmed to them directly that he was involved with “a Democratic congresswoman.”
Both Ansari and Cocchiarella turned up at a MoveOn “Won’t Back Down” event in Phoenix in August. Cocchiarella has also had Ansari on his YouTube show as recently as July.
The purported pairing sits next to an open inquiry. Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) opened a probe into Chorus in November 2025, looking at whether the Chorus program was used to skirt campaign-finance disclosure rules. In May, the committee subpoenaed the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the left-leaning nonprofit that originally ran it, for records. Chorus pays left-leaning social media creators.
Cocchiarella is listed on Chorus’s creator council. Sources said he has described himself as a co-founder. up’s site does not. It lists him on the creator council, not the leadership page. Brian Tyler Cohen, the YouTuber who runs Chorus, is the one who has publicly said he co-founded it.
Ansari has sat on the Oversight Committee since January 2025. There is no public record of her questioning a witness about Chorus or casting a vote on the inquiry, or any involvement at all. Comer has run it through chairman letters and a chairman-issued subpoena, not a hearing or a markup.
Nothing under House rules forbids the pairing from having a relationship. Cocchiarella is not a congressional employee. Ansari did not respond to request for comment and her office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Cocchiarella also did not respond to a request for comment.
Separately, sources argued that Ansari has shifted her position on Israel and accused Cocchiarella of what they perceived as antisemitic social media posts.
Cocchiarella has drawn scrutiny before. As a student at Dartmouth College, he faced allegations of sexual misconduct, NH Journal reported in 2022. The outlet said Dartmouth disciplined him over at least one allegation of abusive behavior, citing a letter warning he could be suspended under the school’s gender-based misconduct policy, and reported he was removed from the Dartmouth College Democrats. The Columbia Spectator, writing in 2023, reported he had faced multiple sexual-assault allegations at Dartmouth.
He later sued a former classmate who accused him online of rape which was ultimately settled. He has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer told NH Journal he had never been accused of sexual assault and had never been the subject of a criminal or Title IX investigation. Cocchiarella has said he was never investigated by Dartmouth’s Title IX office. Dartmouth later said in emails that he was never investigated and left in good academic standing, according to a 2023 profile.
He transferred to Columbia, graduated in 2025, and now hosts The Jack Cocchiarella Show on YouTube, where he has more than 1.5 million subscribers.
Ansari, a former Phoenix vice mayor, won her seat in 2024 after a recount put her through the Democratic primary by 39 votes.
