On Monday, 14 members of Congress wrote to House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urging her to call on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to immediately retract and apologize for a tweet in which she falsely said to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) “you almost had me murdered” and suggested he was “trying to get me killed.”
The letter, which mirrors one sent to Pelosi last Thursday by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), is signed by both Roy and 13 of his House colleagues. It calls it “completely unacceptable behavior for a Member of Congress to make this kind of scurrilous charge” against another congressman.
On January 6 of this year, when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol while votes electing Joe Biden as president were being certified, Sen. Cruz was “simply engaging in speech and debate regarding electors,” not threatening Ocasio-Cortez, Roy says.
Ocasio-Cortez made her accusations against Cruz in tweets posted on Thursday. First, she responded to a tweet by Cruz in which he told her that he fully agreed with her on an issue. In this initial tweet, Ocasio-Cortez said:
“I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but 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.”
Ocasio-Cortez then followed up with two more tweets--one implying Cruz is responsible for a police officer’s suicide and another accusing him of helping to inflict psychological harm, as well.
“While you conveniently talk about ‘moving on,’ a second Capitol police officer lost their life yesterday in the still-raging aftermath of the attacks you had a role in," Ocasio-Cortez said.
“This isn’t a joke. We need accountability, and that includes a new Senator from Texas,” she said.
“You haven’t even apologized for the serious physical + mental harm you contributed to from Capitol Police & custodial workers to your own fellow members of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The full text of Monday’s letter, and the names of the 14 House members who signed it, is presented below, followed by a screenshot of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's tweets to Sen. Cruz.
Dear Speaker Pelosi,
It has come to our attention that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent out a tweet in which she accused Senator Cruz, in essence, of attempted murder. We believe this 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. We ask you to call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments.
It is our 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.
Sincerely,
Chip Roy
Member of Congress
Randy Weber
Member of Congress
Pat Fallon
Member of Congress
Ted Budd
Member of Congress
Lauren Boebert
Member of Congress
Jody Hice
Member of Congress
Doug LaMalfa
Member of Congress
Pete Sessions
Member of Congress
Michael C. Burgess, M.D.
Member of Congress
Ronny L. Jackson
Member of Congress
Barry Moore
Member of Congress
Madison Cawthorn
Member of Congress
Yvette Herrell
Member of Congress
Jeff Duncan
Member of Congress
