Republicans Want AOC Formally Rebuked for Attack on Senator Cruz

Smelling political opportunism and a chance to distract from the radical agenda their base will push them to pursue, congressional Democrats have cited the deadly U.S. Capitol riot as reason to formally punish some of their GOP colleagues.

Democrats — including Florida Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Alcee Hastings and Darren Soto of Florida — have filed or signed onto resolutions to censure two Republicans, Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama and Louie Gohmert of Texas. GOP Rep. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is expected to be the subject of another censure action next week.

But the GOP seems willing to fight back.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas have rallied around Sen. Ted Cruz and pushing their own censure effort against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-Twitter.

If you haven’t paid attention, AOC has had quite the story to tell about the riot.

A whole week after pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, AOC went on her second favorite venue, Instagram, to share her first-hand account.

“I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die,” AOC said. “I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive.”

She claimed she was “nearly assassinated” that day partly because she believed “white-supremacist members of Congress” would reveal her hiding place and “would create opportunities to allow me to be hurt, kidnapped, et cetera.”

And showing that she still hates the police, AOC accused some Capitol Police officers of “acts of betrayal,” supposedly for aiding and abetting the rioters.

The New York congresswoman made it a bit more personal this week.

As Reddit users were trying to melt down the stock market, AOC questioned the role in that of the trading app, Robin Hood, in that fiasco and suggested a probe was in order.

Cruz agreed. Which prompted AOC to shoot back on Twitter, “You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime, if you want to help, you can resign.”

Lee and Roy, obviously understanding the low bar Democrats have set for the language of incitement, called for a rebuke.

“It has come to my attention that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent out a tweet a few hours ago in which she accused one of our colleagues — twice — of attempted murder,” Lee wrote in a letter to fellow senators.

“This is neither acceptable nor excusable. I believe that, as a conference, we should immediately and publicly call on her to retract her statement and apologize. If she refuses to do so — and perhaps even if she doesn’t — I think she should be admonished or censured by the House.”

In his own separate letter, Roy wrote, “It is completely unacceptable behavior for a Member of Congress to make this kind of scurrilous charge against another member in the House or Senate for simply engaging in speech and debate regarding electors as they interpreted the Constitution. I call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments.”

“If Representative Ocasio-Cortez does not apologize immediately, we will be forced to find alternate means to condemn this regrettable statement,” he added. “It is my sincere hope that we all stop this heightened rhetoric and move forward to actually do the work the American people sent us here to do.”