With over 100,000 people watching on Instagram Live, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) detailed the “close encounter” she had with the MAGA rioters during last week’s failed coup at the Capitol building. “Wednesday was an extremely traumatizing event. And it was not an exaggeration to say that many members of the House were nearly assassinated,” she said. “I didn’t even feel safe going to that extraction point because there were QAnon and white supremacist members of Congress who I felt would disclose my location and create opportunities to allow me to be hurt.” AOC, who “didn’t feel safe around other members of Congress,” thought she “was going to die.”
The rioters brought pitchforks and zip-ties and Confederate flags to the U.S. Capitol; a wooden gallows was erected on the lawn; and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), one of the members of “The Squad” (AOC is also part of the group), told the Boston Globe that “every panic button in my office had been torn out — the whole unit.”
Ocasio-Cortez was “unable to provide further details about the January 6 incident due to security concerns,” according to the Huffington Post, but she did later senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) for their role in the riot. “Ted Cruz, you do not belong in the United States Senate. Josh Hawley, you do not belong in the United States Senate, so get out,” she said. More generally, Ocasio-Cortez told any Republican who supported President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election that “you will never be president. You will never command the respect of this country, never… And you should resign, and so should every member of congress who voted to overturn the election results because they would rather cling to power instead of respect our democracy.”
Here’s a thread of her Instagram Live talk, along with reactions:
In an Instagram live last night, @AOC says a "close encounter" at the Capitol coup made her question if she would get thru the day alive-then she proceeds to SPEAK THE TRUTH about what the GOP is really doing.
Here is a complete thread of that video 1/: pic.twitter.com/A9rBknPsSJ
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) January 13, 2021
.@AOC just gave an impassioned speech about impeachment to more than 100,000 people on Instagram at 11 o’clock on a Tuesday night.
Her natural political skills, spontaneous eloquence and fluency with social media are so striking, especially at a national moment like this.
— Liam Stack (@liamstack) January 13, 2021
.@AOC Instagram speech tonight is one of the more important pieces of American oratory. Everyone should watch. It’s sobering and honest in ways that are so needed. https://t.co/SneUnUKGJi
— Thelma Young Lutunatabua (@Thelma_Lutun) January 13, 2021
Cannot stop thinking about @AOC's IG Live last night. It was horrifying to watch the attacks on the Capitol unfold on live TV. Over the last week, we have learned how much worse it was than we even saw.
— Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) January 13, 2021
https://twitter.com/melwedde/status/1349344645575282689
https://twitter.com/CharlotteAlter/status/1349207697665757185
fox news has been portraying aoc as a terrorist insurgent out to destroy america from within for several years now. the people who came to the capitol looking for blood were primed by rupert murdoch. https://t.co/FnLDQieySM
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) January 13, 2021
@AOC you are the *only* reason I have, even a stitch of hope anymore. Thank you for always being so strong, honest, brave and courageous. https://t.co/y4MKGWaJ8e
— ✌🏻The life and times of Knucks 🤙🏻 (@AntrimErin) January 13, 2021
The reason people like @AOC so much is because she cuts through the gaslighting. She’s honest. She’s blunt. And for a minute, she can make you feel like you aren’t crazy for refusing to deny the injustices right in front of you.
This address tonight is healing.
— Dr. Nicole Bedera (@NBedera) January 13, 2021
.@AOC on IG live going from bringing holy fire about white supremacy to calling out her colleagues who vote for their donors and not their consciences and now making the case for facing and healing trauma.
She is a great light.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 13, 2021
https://twitter.com/KimberlyNFoster/status/1349326405335740423
https://twitter.com/FredTJoseph/status/1349340992697208832
(Via the Huffington Post)