OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was called out by the founder of a popular Twitter account that regularly highlights the more extreme side of liberal politics, culture, and society after she appeared to avoid a confrontation at her Washington, D.C., office.
On Friday, Chaya Raichik, the creator of Libs of TikTok, appeared on Fox News’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to claim that ‘AOC,’ as she is popularly known, avoided her on Capitol Hill earlier in the day.
Raichik posted a video on social media this week in which she visited Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional office to confront the Democrat about allegedly telling lies about her on the House floor. Raichik was referring to Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks at a hearing that Raichik was lying about a hospital providing hysterectomies to “children.” Raichik had posted a video featuring doctors discussing gender-affirming hysterectomies, which Raichik claimed were provided to “young women,” according to Mediaite.
“I absolutely had no expectations for her to own up to it. I went to her office, and I was ready to sit down with her and get to the bottom of this and explain it. And I don’t know if she was in the office or not, but I know she cowered away,” she told Carlson.
Raichik said she no longer expects Ocasio-Cortez to agree to a sit-down with her, stating again that she wanted to confront Ocasio-Cortez and accuse her of lying about her during the floor speech.
“I don’t think she would ever face me or ever have a discussion about it. But I as an American citizen — I don’t appreciate being defamed in front of millions of people. So I wanted to confront her, and she cowered,” she said.
Just pre-taped an awesome segment with @TuckerCarlson reacting to this clip and discussing how the left lies. Airing tonight! Tune in! https://t.co/3lvwqL7JqU
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 24, 2023
Earlier this month, the House Office of Congressional Ethics found there is “substantial reason to believe” that Ocasio-Cortez might have violated federal law when she accepted “impermissible gifts” linked to her 2021 attendance at the Met Gala.
Ocasio-Cortez went viral at the time when she attended the star-studded event wearing a dress that had the words “Tax the Rich” across the back of it.
“The nonpartisan watchdog’s board recommended in June 2022 that the House review the allegations against Ocasio-Cortez, according to documents released on Thursday. The Ethics Committee announced in December that it was investigating Ocasio-Cortez, though it did not disclose the subject of its inquiry at the time. The move led to speculation, acknowledged on Thursday, that the review had to do with her attendance at the gala,” according to the Washington Examiner.
AOC, who has denied any wrongdoing, rented the dress for the occasion, as well as accessories and hair and makeup services she received but apparently didn’t pay for until after the formal review had been initiated against her.
The Office of Congressional Ethics concluded that if Ocasio-Cortez “accepted impermissible gifts, then she may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.”
AOC’s ‘Tax the Rich’ Met Gala appearance likely violated law: ethics panel https://t.co/yGD6RZScap pic.twitter.com/BQ9UNq2wlC
— New York Post (@nypost) March 2, 2023
Lauren Hilt, a spokeswoman for Ocasio-Cortez, said they are confident the lawmaker did not violate House rules.
“Though no Ethics violation has been found, the Office of Congressional Ethics (‘OCE’) did identify that there were delays in paying vendors for costs associated with the Congresswoman’s attendance at the Met Gala. The Congresswoman finds these delays unacceptable, and she has taken several steps to ensure nothing of this nature will happen again,” she said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“However, while regrettable, these delayed payments definitively do not rise to the level of a violation of House Rules. Even after OCE’s exhaustive review of the Congresswoman’s personal communications, there is no record of the Congresswoman refusing to pay for these expenses. To the contrary, there are several explicit, documented communications, from prior to OCE’s review, that show the Congresswoman fully understood that she had to pay for these expenses from her own personal funds — as she ultimately did,” she added.
