Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has railed against campaigns funded by billionaires — but her own 2018 campaign took cash from billionaire and Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer.
The freshman congresswoman, who has endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential race, took aim at billionaires as she campaigned with the self-described socialist in Venice Beach, California, last week. (RELATED: Mark Steyn Ridicules Ocasio-Cortez For Saying ‘It Is Fascism, What We Have’ In America)
“For anyone who accuses us for instituting purity tests, it is called having values,” Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd. “It is called having standards for your conduct to not be funded by billionaires but to be funded by the people, which is different!”
Fox News host Julie Banderas shared a clip of the rally.
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But as several outlets reported, Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 campaign accepted the maximum $2700 donation from Steyer.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ‘accepted a $2,700 donation from 2020 presidential hopeful and BILLIONAIRE Tom Steyer’ despite slamming Mayor Pete for his high-dollar fundraisershttps://t.co/r6htfn1WJY
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) December 27, 2019
“It is called having a bad memory, apparently. Is this totally hypocritical? Could this hurt Bernie Sanders? When he has AOC railing against billionaire money when she herself has benefited from billionaire donations?” Banderas asked guest Scott Bolden, the former D.C. Democratic Party Chairman.
“It is called winning, and you can’t win without money,” Bolden dismissed the argument. “And when she took that donation, not from Tom, but from his former fund manager family that he was a part of, she was a candidate to win. And she upset the incumbent. So I don’t think $2700 from one billionaire is dispositive of winning, but you are not going to be turning down any money.”