Thirteen Republicans in the House joined Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) on Monday in demanding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) apologize to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for accusing him of “trying to get me killed.”
The 13 House members sent a joint letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday demanding that Ocasio-Cortez apologize for her conduct. The letter followed one Roy sent the House speaker on Friday over Ocasio-Cortez’s allegation against Cruz.
“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,” the Monday letter says. “We ask you to call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments.”
The letter is signed by GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ted Budd and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina; Michael Burgess, Pat Fallon, Ronny Jackson, Pete Sessions, and Randy Weber of Texas; Jeff Duncan of South Carolina; Yvette Harrell of New Mexico, Jody Hice of Georgia; Doug Lamalfa of California; and Barry Moore of Alabama.
Just when we thought @RepAOC had found common ground with @SenTedCruz, she goes and accuses him of attempted murder.
I joined a letter with @RepChipRoy asking @SpeakerPelosi to call for an apology. pic.twitter.com/xzctU5p2z7
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) February 1, 2021
Roy demanded Ocasio-Cortez apologize to Cruz on Friday, writing in a letter to Pelosi: “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. I ask you to call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments.”
“If Representative Ocasio-Cortez does not apologize immediately, we will be forced to find alternative means to condemn this regrettable statement,” Roy added.
On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez accused Cruz of “trying to get me killed” in a Twitter exchange that began with the two lawmakers agreeing on the need for an investigation into the stock-trading app Robinhood for its role in restricting users from trading several companies’ stocks last week.
“We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. Cruz responded, “I agree.”
Ocasio-Cortez rejected Cruz’s apparent offer to work together in bipartisan fashion.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted back. “In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.”