CNN’s Jake Tapper repeatedly called out socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) during an interview on Thursday over her refusal to vote for any border bill that would help improve conditions for detained illegal aliens after she has repeatedly claimed that the Trump administration is operating “concentration camps.”
Tapper questioned Ocasio-Cortez after she wrote the following on Twitter: “Under no circumstances should the House vote for a McConnell-only bill w/ no negotiation with Democrats. Hell no. That’s an abdication of power we should refuse to accept. They will keep hurting kids if we do.”
“Those are strong words against Speaker Pelosi and that bill as you know passed 84 to 8 in the Senate,” Tapper said. “A lot of Liberal Democrats voted for it. Explain why you’re taking such a strong stance here.”
Ocasio-Cortez responded: We passed a House version of this bill which had far more humanitarian provisions and accountability — and accountability for the facilities that are abusing kids at our border. And Mitch McConnell immediately smacked it down in order to pass and rammed through a Senate bill that has an enormous amount of funding for military as well as no guardrails and no accountability for facilities that are abusing our kids.”
“But Congresswoman, didn’t you vote against the House version too?” Tapper asked.
“I did,” Ocasio-Cortez responded. “I did.”
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Tapper continued pressing Ocasio-Cortez on the issue, asking: “By opposing both bills, aren’t you just ultimately depriving these kids of housing facilities that they need?”
Tapper’s question came after Ocasio-Cortez had falsely claimed over the last week that the Trump administration was killing kids on concentration camps.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Tapper’s question by saying that she voted against the Democrat and Republican bills because she “needed to send a message.”
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Tapper then pressed Ocasio-Cortez on her use of the term “concentration camp” to describe the immigrant detention facilities located on the southern border.
Tapper asked: “What do you say to Americans especially survivors of the Holocaust or individuals who are related to survivors of the Holocaust you say look, academically you’re right, the term concentration camp did not necessarily mean death camp, but colloquially when most people hear it, they think death camp, they think Holocaust and you’re undermining your argument and you’re — and you’re hurting us. What — you’re hurting our feelings, hurting our emotions, hurting our memories. What do you say to those Holocaust survivors?”
After claiming that Jewish members of her community stood behind her message, Ocasio-Cortez said that she and her team told survivors of the Holocaust that she was correct for falsely claiming that the United States is operating concentration camps on the southern border.
Ocasio-Cortez also doubled down on comparing the situation to the Holocaust by again invoking the term “Never Again,” which is a direct reference to the Holocaust.
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Tapper then noted that using her definition of what constitutes a “concentration camp,” that former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton would also be guilty of operating “concentration camps.”
“So did you call them concentration camps at the time when Obama was president?” Tapper asked.
“Well, at the time I was working in a restaurant,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that she was opposed to the detention of families under Obama. It’s worth noting that Ocasio-Cortez worked in politics while Obama was president as she worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
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