Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, socialist sweetheart of the century, is facing a heap of backlash on Twitter after claiming that she was near death during the January 6 Capitol riot.
But, she wasn’t even in the Capitol building when the attack took place.
In a video posted earlier this week, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that, as rioters approached and breached her office, she was told by a staffer to “hide, hide, run and hide.”
“I thought I was going to die. I have never been quieter in my entire life,” she explained in the video, adding that she hid in a bathroom.
She also said a man broke into her office screaming “where is she?”
She later explained that the man was actually a Capitol Police officer who appeared angry and hostile towards her.
She said that the situation "didn't feel right because he was looking at me with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility -- and things weren't adding up. There was no partner there and no one was yelling, he wasn't yelling like, 'this is Capitol Police, this is Capitol Police,'" according to Fox News.
Pay attention to this: in one video, Cortez claims she was not at the secure extraction location because she was scared of other members of Congress.
“I did not go to the secure location because I feared other members of Congress that would have allowed harm to me, so I was not in a secure location that day.”
In a video a few weeks later, she changed her story, saying she was never given information regarding the secure location.
“Did he not say that he was Capitol Police on purpose? Did he lose himself in that moment? Did he not give us the extraction point location because he forgot? Or was he trying to actually put us in a vulnerable situation?”
Get your story straight, Congresswoman.
Following the riot, her narrative was utterly sensationalized by the mainstream media.
One story from Newsweek claimed “rioters actually entered her office, forcing her to take refuge inside her bathroom,” BizPacReview reports.
Critics have challenged AOC’s claim that she feared for her life because of the riots, seeming to suggest she was in or near the Capitol building at the time of the attack.
“I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive,” she said.
On Wednesday, the hashtag #AlexandriaOcasioSmollet trended to #1 on Twitter.
Many joined in on the fun, pointing out and fact-checking many flaws in her story.
Ocasio-Cortez made it clear that she can dish, but certainly can’t take.
Following the trending hashtag, she called on her followers to report any user who tweeted the hashtag and fact checked her story so Facebook and Twitter would take down the posts.
“Scan your social media to find posts with this misleading information, especially those using the trending hashtag. Don’t tweet any hashtags yourself,” the letter said. “Identify any posts that are threatening or harassing and use the built-in report features to flag them for moderators. Facebook and Twitter both have built in tools for reporting posts and tweets that break the rules.”
Perhaps the most interesting part of this whole saga is how the mainstream media is covering it: they’re coming to her rescue.
“No, AOC Didn’t Make Up Her Capitol Riots Experience” - New York Times
“AOC's Capitol Instagram video backlash reveals myth of the perfect assault victim” - NBC News
“In attacking Ocasio-Cortez, Tucker Carlson maxes out on hypocrisy” - Washington Post
“AOC describes trauma of Capitol riots” - ABC News
No mention of the misinformed claims, only emotionally charged headlines.
