Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed GOP Rep. Nancy Mace on Twitter on Thursday after Mace accused Ocasio-Cortez of exaggerating the level of danger she felt during the violent Trump-fueled assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
Mace got into a heated argument with Ocasio-Cortez after she claimed, without evidence, that the New York Democrat was falsifying and exaggerating her experience. Mace, whose office is two doors down from Ocasio-Cortez’s, told Fox News that “no insurrectionists stormed our hallway” to undercut Ocasio-Cortez’s story.
Notably, as CNN’s Daniel Dale pointed out, Ocasio-Cortez never said she definitively saw insurrectionists in the hallway or in her office, but did recount having her office door banged on and having a frightening experience with a Capitol Police officer in an Instagram Live on Monday night.
Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that shortly after the insurrection itself, Mace was one of the most vocal GOP voices condemning the violence and recounting her own intense fear of the insurrectionists.
Mace responded: “FACT CHECK: have not once discounted your fear. We were ALL terrified that day. I’m stating the fact that insurrectionists were never in our hallway… because they weren’t. I deal in facts. Unlike you, apparently.”
Ocasio-Cortez fired back, tweeting: “This is where the true damage of what @NancyMace is doing comes in. How many survivors are watching her? Who now, seeing her, won’t get care or will feel further shame or silence? Who won’t speak up bc they know there are voices in leadership ready to minimize their experiences?”
Mace replied, “But now, in typical @AOC fashion, you’re making this political, even going as far as saying I don’t ‘hear’ victims of assault — ME, of all people. You don’t know my story. SMH. Just stop it.”
This is a deeply cynical & disgusting attack, @NancyMace.
As the Capitol complex was stormed and people were being killed, none of us knew in the moment what areas were compromised.
You previously told reporters yourself that you barricaded in your office, afraid you’d be hurt. https://t.co/4FyWsaXSDx pic.twitter.com/7gW6yKO9gJ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2021
This is a false “FACT CHECK.” Ocasio-Cortez didn’t say insurrectionists were in their hallway. She said she was generally scared about what was going on and specifically scared by a Capitol police officer who seemed angry and hadn’t made clear he was with law enforcement. https://t.co/imRJjQ9KA1
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 4, 2021
