Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich laughed and wondered if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s story about being threatened in her office during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was imagined.
“The fact is that if it’s true — and this should be a matter of fact, not opinion — if it’s true that she was in the Cannon office building and if it’s true as Nancy Mace says that there were no problems in that corridor, you have to ask, ‘Was this something happening in AOC’s mind?'” Gingrich told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
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“Did she experience this even if it didn’t happen? Did she just make it up?” (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Describes Hiding In Her Bathroom During Riot, Questions Whether Officer Purposefully Put Her At Risk)
Ocasio-Cortez has described a harrowing experiencing during the riot on both social media and in cable news interviews. She claims unknown assailants came looking for her in her Congressional office and that she had to hide in her office bathroom after she heard people shouting for her and banging on the walls and door.
Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, who has Congressional office space in the Cannon House building, has disputed Ocasio-Cortez’s story and has stated that there were “no insurrectionists” in the hallway on Jan. 6.
“I think you have to ask yourself why would Nancy Mace stand up unless she thought she was telling the truth?” Gingrich noted. “She didn’t have to be in the middle of this fight. I think The word she used was right. She was disgusted by the dishonesty of AOC and AOC’s whole story is patently foolish.”
Fox News host Bill Hemmer noted that Ocasio-Cortez “hasn’t backed away from her story.”
The former Speaker noted that Mace is no stranger to trauma and that “she is survivor of rape” and has “led a program to help women cope with and come to grips with it.” (RELATED: Hear A Congresswoman Describe The Capitol Riot From Inside The Evacuation)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) questions Postmaster General Louis DeJoy during a hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Aug. 24, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images)
“So I don’t think Nancy Mace won’t give an inch. I think in this particular contest, AOC shrinks and Nancy Mace gets bigger.”
Fact-checking Snoops’ verdict on the story declared Ocasio-Cortez’s story to be “mostly false” and that the congresswoman “exaggerated the danger she was in.” It acknowledged that her office isn’t even in the main Capitol building that was the scene of the mob’s attack.