New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday that there are “legitimate white supremacist sympathizers that sit at the heart” of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives.
Ocasio-Cortez appeared on MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” and was asked by host Chris Hayes about the fear surrounding her “work environment” and how she feels about the Republican party in the aftermath of the threats she and other House members are receiving.
“I actually sense a profound difference between the Republican caucus of last term, the 115th Congress, and the Republican caucus that — of this term …. And that difference was that it really felt that last term the Republican caucus was one of extreme fealty to Donald Trump,” Ocasio-Cortez began. “There were some that were true believers. Others that simply remained quiet out of cowardice and out of fear of the president’s retribution. But this term there are legitimate white supremacist sympathizers that sit at the heart and at the core of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives.”
Ocasio-Cortez did not specify which members of Congress she was referring to as “white supremacist sympathizers.” She made previous claims in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, when she said that sheltering in an “insecure location” felt safer than sheltering with the members she viewed as “white supremacist” sympathizers, who might give up her location to the mob. (RELATED: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Claims ‘We Came Close To Half The House Nearly Dying’ During Capitol Riot)
She went on to attack House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy saying that he “answers to these QAnon members of Congress, not the other way around.” She specifically pointed to Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has expressed previous support for QAnon content and received criticism for liking Facebook comments that called for the execution of members of the “deep state,” as well as shooting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the head.
“When I hear that Representative McCarthy is going to pull a member aside who has made white supremacist sympathizing comments, the thing that I think is, what is he going to tell them? Keep it up? Because there are no consequences in the Republican caucus for violence. There’s no consequences for racism. No consequences for misogyny. No consequences for insurrection. And no consequences means that they condone it,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We really, really need to ask ourselves what they are evolving into. Because this is no longer about a party of limited government. This is about something much more nefarious.”