Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denounced a conservative group on Twitter on Wednesday after it labeled her as a “domestic terrorist,” saying similar rhetoric consistently leads to a spike in threats against her life.
Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat representing New York who has become both a social media star and a favorite target for Republicans, was criticizing a fundraising email sent out by the Ohio College Republican Federation with the subject line: “AOC is a domestic terrorist.”
The email, which was posted by Dave Levinthal, a politics editor at The Center for Public Integrity, included that the conservative group was asking for donations to “stop the brainwashing” that has college students thinking that Ocasio-Cortez is a “role model”
“This puts me in danger every time. Almost every time this uncalled for rhetoric gets blasted by conserv. grps, we get a spike in death threats to refer to Capitol Police,” Ocasio-Cortez posted on Twitter. “Multiple ppl have been arrested trying to harm me, Ilhan, & others. @GOP, what’s it going to take to stop?”.
This puts me in danger every time.
Almost every time this uncalled for rhetoric gets blasted by conserv. grps, we get a spike in death threats to refer to Capitol Police.
Multiple ppl have been arrested trying to harm me, Ilhan, & others.@GOP, what’s it going to take to stop? https://t.co/vpous77RbT
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) 10 April 2019
Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the death threats and whether any arose from this specific email.
The conservative group apologized after Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet, writing that it “does not condone the unauthorized email sent out in our name.”
“We apologize to Congresswoman Ocascio-Cortez for the use of unacceptable language in this email, and we do not approve of the message conveyed,” the Ohio College Republican Federation said on Twitter.