GOP congressman demands Ocasio-Cortez apologize following Twitter exchange with Cruz

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on Thursday demanded Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) apologize for comments she made slamming Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Twitter earlier in the day. 

In a letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Roy said that it had “come to his attention” that the interaction between Cruz and Ocasio-Cortez had taken place. 

“It has come to my attention that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent out a tweet a few hours ago in which she accused Senator Ted Cruz, in essence, of attempted murder,” Roy, who previously served as Cruz’s chief of staff, wrote. 

“As a member of this body who disagreed with ‘objections’ to the electors and who has expressed publicly my concerns about the events leading to January 6th, 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,” he continued. 

“I ask you to call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments.” 

Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) were among several Republicans in the Senate who led an effort to object to the 2020 election results when Congress convened to certify President Biden’s win. Critics of the lawmakers’ actions argue that their effort was one of the factors that led to the Capitol riot that ensued the same day. 

In addition, large swaths of the House GOP joined efforts to object to 2020 election results. Roy was among a minority of GOP House members who did not join the challenge.

Ocasio-Cortez earlier Thursday slammed Cruz after he co-signed her condemnation of stock-trading app Robinhood halting trading of GameStop stocks after a number of Reddit users targeted the stock. 

Fully agree. https://t.co/rW38zfLYGh

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 28, 2021 

“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,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response. “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. 

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. https://t.co/4mVREbaqqm

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021

At least one participant in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol reportedly made violent threats against Ocasio-Cortez specifically.

Roy concluded the letter stating that if Ocasio-Cortez did not apologize for her words there would be other measures pursued to condemn her statement. 

“If Representative Ocasio-Cortez does not apologize immediately, we will be forced to find alternative means to condemn this regrettable statement,” Roy, wrote in a letter to Pelosi on Thursday.

The Hill has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for comment.