Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was ascending the steps of the Capitol for a vote on Monday night when she was personally accosted by a Republican colleague. Representative Ted Yoho of Florida approached Ocasio-Cortez on the steps with aggressive, insulting comments about some remarks she made earlier this month connecting poverty and crime, according to the Hill.
Yoho allegedly told Ocasio-Cortez, “You are out of your freaking mind,” and that she was “disgusting.” Ocasio-Cortez responded that Yoho was being “rude” before continuing up the steps. As Yoho was making his way down, he allegedly said “fucking bitch” as they parted ways. The exchange was overheard by a reporter.
Yoho was apparently incensed about statements Ocasio-Cortez recently made during a virtual town hall with the mothers of Ramarley Graham and Eric Garner about a recent spike in crime in New York City amid the coronavirus, in which she argued that unemployment and poverty were partly to blame, and more policing was not the answer. Fox News and other conservative outlets have seized upon the remarks, claiming that Ocasio-Cortez was making excuses for violent crime.
Another of Ocasio-Cortez’s colleagues was present for the altercation: Representative Roger Williams of Texas. He told the Hill that he had not overheard the exchange. “I was actually thinking, as I was walking down the stairs, I was thinking about some issues I’ve got in my district that need to get done.” He claimed ignorance of what Yoho and Ocasio-Cortez had said. “I don’t know what their topic was,” he claimed. “There’s always a topic, isn’t there?”
But in a tweet on Tuesday morning, Ocasio-Cortez accused Williams of having “blatantly lied.” “You were yelling at me too,” she wrote, “about ‘throwing urine.’”
Ocasio-Cortez is used to confrontation on the floor of the House, in the form of heated exchanges over legislation, and in hearings, where she is known for intense, pointed questioning. But “that kind of confrontation hasn’t ever happened to me — ever,” she told the Hill. “I’ve never had that kind of abrupt, disgusting kind of disrespect levied at me … In all these intense news cycles, I have never, ever been treated that way by another member before. I’m frankly quite taken aback.”
In her tweet about Yoho, she wrote, “I never spoke to Rep. Yoho before he decided to accost me on the steps of the nation’s Capitol yesterday. Believe it or not, I usually get along fine w/ my GOP colleagues. We know how to check our legislative sparring at the committee door.”
“But hey,” she added, “‘b*tches’ get stuff done.”
Yoho has served in Congress since 2013 and is not seeking reelection in 2020. He is a member of the Tea Party Caucus, voted against making lynching a federal hate crime, and is anti-choice. When asked about the incident, Yoho told the Hill, “No comment.”
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