Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) declared Friday it is “stupidly untrue” for her Democratic colleagues of color to say she is playing the “race card” against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Fox News congressional reporter Jason Donner asked the 29-year-old freshman congresswoman what she thinks of criticism that she is playing the race card to attack Pelosi, to which she replied: “What? That’s stupidly untrue.”
Speaking Wednesday to the Washington Post, Ocasio-Cortez suggested Pelosi was motivated by race for downplaying the significance of four progressive Democrats, including herself, voting against the border funding bill backed by party leadership.
“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” she told the Post. “But the persistent singling out… it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful… the explicit singling out of newly-elected women of color.”
CBC member Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO) took umbrage with Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks, accusing the freshman congresswoman of “using the race card.”
“What a weak argument, because you can’t get your way and because you’re getting pushback you resort to using the race card? Unbelievable. That’s unbelievable to me,” Clay told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I could care less. I could really care less. I agree with the Speaker. Four people, four votes out of 240 people, who cares.”
“It shows you how weak their argument is when they have to resort and direct racist accusations toward Speaker Pelosi… it’s very disappointing to me,” the lawmaker added.
President Donald Trump defended Pelosi against Ocasio-Cortez’s attacks, saying the New York Democrat is being disrespectful.
“I think Cortez is being very disrespectful to somebody who’s been there a long time,” the president said Friday. “I deal with Nancy Pelosi a lot and we go back and forth and it’s fine, but I think that a group of people is being very disrespectful to her,” the president added. “And you know what, I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on.”
He concluded by saying the 29-year-old congresswoman “should treat Nancy Pelosi with respect.”
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