Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Thursday demanded resignations from both Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), accusing them of playing a key role in instigating the Capitol riots for expressing their intent to object to the electoral votes in disputed states ahead of the joint session of Congress.
“Sen. Cruz, you must accept responsibility for how your craven, self-serving actions contributed to the deaths of four people yesterday. And how you fundraised off this riot. Both you and Senator Hawley must resign. If you do not, the Senate should move for your expulsion,” she said in response to the Texas senator’s statements on the riots, calling the protests on the Capitol a “despicable act of terrorism and a shocking assault on our democratic system”:
Sen. Cruz, you must accept responsibility for how your craven, self-serving actions contributed to the deaths of four people yesterday. And how you fundraised off this riot.
Both you and Senator Hawley must resign. If you do not, the Senate should move for your expulsion. https://t.co/O2m6T59LYP
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2021
Cruz shot back, calling the New York lawmaker a “liar.”
“Leading a debate in the Senate on ensuring election integrity is doing our jobs, and it’s in no way responsible for the despicable terrorists who attacked the Capitol yesterday,” he responded:
2/2 …try to massively raise taxes, when you try to pass the green new deal & destroy millions of jobs, when you push for amnesty, when you try to pack the Supreme Court w/ activists to undermine our Constitutional rights…
I will fight that every step & stand with the People.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 7, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez responded with a screenshot of a fundraising message sent from his campaign on Wednesday.
“Your complete refusal to acknowledge any of the above harm, wrongdoing, or even misjudgement; & your lack of any self-reflection in how these acts contributed to yesterday’s chaos is alarming,” she said, concluding that it makes him “unfit” for office, prompting a pointed response from Cruz:
Oh – you’re accusing me of lying?
Isn’t this you? Your campaign sent out this fundraising message as people were sieging the Capitol. You claimed to be “leading the fight to reject electors.”
Clashes started around 1:20pm. This message was sent after the Capitol was breached. https://t.co/oAf16aHktcpic.twitter.com/qb56RxcfSy
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2021
Resign.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2021
1. Yes, my campaign sends out automated fundraising messages—as does your campaign & every other.
2. When the attack happened, w/in minutes I told my team to halt fundraising.
3. Your LIE is that debating an Election Commission in the Senate somehow supports terrorist violence.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 7, 2021
Similarly, Ocasio-Cortez responded to Hawley’s statement about Simon & Schuster canceling his contract, accusing him of fist-pumping insurrectionists while “baselessly” attacking the U.S. elections.
“Your actions fueled a riot and you fundraised in the chaos. Five people are dead. Even your GOP colleagues have distanced from your act,” she continued, ultimately calling for him to be expelled:
You fist-pumped insurrectionists and baselessly attacked our elections. Your actions fueled a riot and you fundraised in the chaos. Five people are dead.
Even your GOP colleagues have distanced from your acts.
Yet here you are crying over a book deal. You should be expelled. https://t.co/9Xn8T9vol4
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 8, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez is among more than 230 lawmakers in the House and Senate — almost entirely Democrats — calling for President Trump’s impeachment.
