AOC rejects Cruz support over Wall Street chaos: ‘You almost had me murdered’
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday accused Sen. Ted Cruz of “trying to get me killed” during the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and called for his resignation from the Senate, after the Texas Republican appeared to agree with her on the need for an investigation into Robinhood following chaos on Wall Street.
“I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out,” the New York congresswoman wrote in a tweet directed at the Texas senator Thursday. “Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.”
She continued, “You haven’t even apologized for the serious physical + mental harm you contributed to from Capitol Police & custodial workers to your own fellow members of Congress. In the meantime, you can get off my timeline & stop clout-chasing. Thanks.”
CNN reached out to spokespersons for both Cruz and Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday afternoon.
Ocasio-Cortez’s comments to Cruz came as she discussed the news Thursday that Robinhood, a trading app, restricted trades on GameStop and other highly volatile stocks, blocking retail investors from buying those stocks but allowing Wall Street to.
On Twitter, she called for an investigation into Robinhood’s actions and said it was “unacceptable” — to which Cruz replied “fully agree,” sparking the New York congresswoman’s ire.
Cruz said later Thursday that Ocasio-Cortez’s tweets amounted to “partisan anger” that’s “not healthy for our country.” Those comments prompted Ocasio-Cortez to tweet: “What does he think the logical response to his lies should be? A hug? Maybe there’s anger bc his actions deserve accountability.”
Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy, who was formerly Cruz’s chief of staff, called on Ocasio-Cortez to “immediately apologize” and retract her comments about his former boss, calling it “unacceptable behavior for a Member of Congress to make this kind of scurrilous charge against another member.”
“If Representative Ocasio-Cortez does not apologize immediately, we will be forced to find alternative means to condemn this regrettable statement,” he wrote in a letter sent Thursday night to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The letter did not specify what follow-up action Roy was considering.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump breached the Capitol building on January 6 and attempted to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral win, believing that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. Some of the rioters sought out lawmakers like Pelosi, ransacked their offices, and were caught on video making death threats against members and former Vice President Mike Pence.
That day, just before the rioters stormed the Capitol, Cruz had objected to the certification of Arizona’s 2020 elections result, despite no evidence supporting claims of voting irregularities and fraud. Cruz was one of the top congressional backers of Trump’s baseless challenges to the election results before January 6.
Ocasio-Cortez had previously called for Cruz’s resignation in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack, and for him to be expelled from the Senate if he does not step down.
She said in an Instagram Live video earlier this month, “Many, many members of the House were nearly assassinated” in the breach. “It’s just not an exaggeration to say that at all.”
“I had a pretty traumatizing event happen to me,” Ocasio-Cortez explained. “And I do not know if I can even disclose the full details of that event due to security concerns but I can tell you that I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die.”
Last week, the Justice Department arrested Garret Miller of Texas, who had allegedly participated in the Capitol attack and posted online death threats against Ocasio-Cortez and a US Capitol Police officer.
Miller allegedly tweeted, “assassinate AOC,” according to court documents.
Ocasio-Cortez also told CNN’s Chris Cuomo last week on “Prime Time” that a considerable number of lawmakers “still don’t yet feel safe around other members of Congress” in the wake of the breach.
The high-profile New York progressive congresswoman and the staunch Texas conservative have been at odds on many issues but had agreed on a ban on former lawmakers becoming lobbyists.
This story has been updated with additional information Friday.
