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AOC demands Ted Cruz resign over Capitol riot: 'You almost had me murdered'

An unapologetic Cruz ignored the congresswoman's criticism and bemoaned "partisan anger and rage on the Democratic side."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Ted Cruz.CQ-Roll Call via AP, Reuters

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Thursday accused Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, of "trying to get me killed" by challenging the election results in the lead up to the Capitol riot and demanded that he resign.

The progressive lawmaker criticized Cruz after he said he agreed with her call for an investigation into why personal trading app Robinhood stopped allowing users to buy stocks including GameStop.

"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," she told Cruz in a tweet.

Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., have faced heavy scrutiny over their efforts to contest the congressional tally of the Electoral College votes, bolstering then-President Donald Trump's false claims that the election had been "stolen" from him. A group of Senate Democrats last week filed an ethics complaint against the two Republican senators calling for an investigation to determine whether they coordinated with the organizers of the pro-Trump rally that preceded theJan. 6 attack.

Both Cruz and Hawley have denied inciting the violence that broke out during the electoral vote count, when a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. Ocasio-Cortez, a frequent target of right-wing vitriol, has said she had a “very close encounter where I thought I was going to die” during the riot. One of the people charged in the riot allegedly threatened to "assassinate" her.

Cruz, who's said Trump "bears some responsibility" for the riot, hasn't accepted any himself, Ocasio-Cortez noted.

"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. This isn’t a joke. We need accountability, and that includes a new Senator from Texas. 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," she wrote in another pair of tweets, urging Cruz, who has 8 million fewer Twitter followers than her, to "get off my timeline & stop clout-chasing."

Asked about her comments, Cruz told reporters, “There's a lot of partisan anger and rage on the Democratic side. It's, it's not healthy for our country, it's certainly not conducive of healing or unity, but everyone has to decide how they want to interact with others.”

Ocasio-Cortez mocked his comments on Twitter afterward. "What does he think the logical response to his lies should be? A hug? Maybe there’s anger bc his actions deserve accountability," she wrote.

The ideological opposites had worked together before, partnering in 2019 to work on lobbying reforms.

Cruz, who raised money off of his electoral vote count objections, has insisted he wasn't trying to challenge the results of the election and did not incite any violence. "Debating a question of constitutional law on the floor of the Senate is the antithesis of trying to resolve conflicts through violent terrorist attack," he said earlier this month.

Hawley also told St. Louis radio station KMOX that he hadn't been trying to overturn the election results.

"I never said that the goal was to overturn the election," Hawley said Thursday. "That was never the point and that was never possible."

But asked in a Fox News interview on Jan. 4 if Trump would remain president on Jan. 20, Hawley said "that depends on what happens on Wednesday. That’s why we have the debate.”

Source: NBC News

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