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AOC’s Alleged Aunt Disputes Claim Trump At Fault For Puerto Rico Aid Issues: ‘We Had The Assistance And It Didn’t Get To The People’

   DailyWire.com
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, speaks during a news conference in the Bronx borough of New York, U.S., on Thursday, June 3, 2021. The news conference was held to urge Congress to provide nearly $400,000 to Jacobi Hospital's youth violence reduction program - Stand Up to Violence.
Jeenah Moon / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) alleged aunt disputed the far-left lawmaker’s recent claim that former President Donald Trump was responsible for the lack of aid in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, saying in an interview that the problem was the Puerto Rican government, not politicians in Washington, D.C.

“Just over a week ago, my [grandmother] fell ill,” Ocasio-Cortez claimed in a tweet last week. “I went to Puerto Rico to see her- my 1st time in a year+ bc of COVID. This is her home. Hurricane María relief hasn’t arrived. Trump blocked relief $ for PR. People are being forced to flee ancestral homes, & developers are taking them.”

The Daily Mail tracked down the home of AOC’s grandmother and, when they approached the home, they were met by a woman who told them that she was AOC’s aunt.

“I am her aunt. We don’t speak for the community,” the woman said. “We are private people, we don’t talk about our family.”

The Daily Mail said that AOC’s “aunt” “refused” to blame Trump for the alleged problems that many of the victims of Hurricane Maria had with getting aid to repair their homes.

“In this area people need a lot of help. Many people have needed it for the past four years and haven’t had anything,” she said. “It’s a problem here in Puerto Rico with the administration and the distribution of help. It is not a problem with Washington. We had the assistance and it didn’t get to the people.”

AOC’s tweet last week set off a firestorm, with many calling out AOC online, saying that she needed to help her grandmother.

The following are some of the responses AOC received:

  • Curtis Houck, NewsBusters Managing Editor: “You need to help her!”
  • Tom Elliott, founder of Grabien Media: “AOC: My grandma can’t fix her ceiling without a Washington bailout.”
  • Christopher Bedford, Federalist senior editor: “When your grandmother is ill and living in squalor, you can start working to get her into a proper home right away, or you can tweet attack Donald Trump. Your call, I guess.”
  • Steve Milloy, political commentator: “Maybe instead of sporting uber-expensive designer clothes you could sacrifice for your abuela. Maybe you could wear an outfit and then auction it off and send the money to your abuela. The possibilities are endless.”
  • Mike Cernovich, political commentator: “You couldn’t swing a mortgage payment or two?”
  • Matt Walsh, Daily Wire columnist: “AOC went and bought herself a Tesla while her grandmother lives in a shack with a collapsing ceiling. It never fails with these champagne socialists. They expect everyone else to make sacrifices while making none themselves.”

Walsh later trolled AOC by starting an online fundraiser that raised over $100,000 for AOC’s grandmother in a short period of time. The fundraising website later shut down the effort, claiming that AOC’s family told the website that they would not be taking the money.

This article has been expanded after publication to include additional information.

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