Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton dismissed Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s characterization of some Republicans as “white supremacist sympathizers” during an appearance on Thursday night’s “Fox News Primetime.”
Speaking of the aftermath of the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday called some Republicans “legitimate white supremacist sympathizers that sit at the heart” of the House GOP caucus.
“I actually sense a profound difference between the Republican caucus of last term, the 115th Congress, and the Republican caucus that — of this term,” she told MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes.” “And that difference was that it really felt that last term the Republican caucus was one of extreme fealty to Donald Trump.”
“There were some that were true believers,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “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.”
Asked by Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo about the New York congresswoman’s statement, Cotton said, “She’s a little excitable in that clip but that’s not all that unusual for her.”
WATCH:
“It doesn’t help much to have that kind of rhetoric,” he continued. “We’re trying to work together to get kids back to school, our people back to work, the American people vaccinated. I think that should be our focus rather than the bomb-throwing back and forth from one end of Congress to the other.” (RELATED: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez: Ted Cruz ‘Almost Had Me Murdered’)
The Arkansas senator went on to criticize President Joe Biden’s actions so far in office as governance “from the hard left.”