By Dareh Gregorian - NBC News
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, on Thursday accused Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, of "trying to get her assassinated" by challenging the election results in the run-up to the Capitol riots and demanded his resignation.
The legislator criticized Cruz after she said she agreed to call for an investigation into why the stock exchange app Robinhood stopped allowing users to buy shares, including those in video game store chain GameStop.
"I'm happy to work with the Republicans on this issue where there is common ground, but you
almost got me killed three weeks ago, so you can take off.
Happy to work with almost any other representative of the Republican Party who is not trying to Let them kill me.
In the meantime, if you want to help, you can resign, "he told Cruz in a tweet.
Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, have faced heavy scrutiny for their allegations to challenge Congressional recount of Electoral College votes, reinforcing former President Donald Trump's false claims that the election had been "him." stolen ".
[Man who threatened to kill Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter faces charges for the Capitol attack]
A group of Senate Democrats filed an ethics complaint last week against the two Republican senators calling for an investigation to determine whether they coordinated with organizers of the pro-Trump rally that preceded the Jan.6 assault on the Capitol.
Both Cruz and Hawley have denied inciting the violence that erupted during the electoral vote count
, when a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
Ocasio-Cortez, a frequent target on the right, has said she had a "very close encounter" in which she thought "she was going to die" during the riot.
One of the people charged in the riot allegedly threatened to "assassinate" her.
Latina congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denounced misogynistic insults from legislator Ted Yoho
July 23, 202000: 57
Cruz, who acknowledged that Trump "has some responsibility" for the riots, has not accepted any, recalled Ocasio-Cortez.
[Senator Ted Cruz falsely suggests that the Paris Agreement against the climate emergency favors Parisians over Americans]
"As you conveniently speak of 'moving on,' a second Capitol police officer lost his life yesterday in the aftermath of the attacks he was involved in. This is no joke.
We need accountability, and that includes a new senator. for Texas, "
he told her.
He has not even apologized for the serious physical and mental harm that the Capitol police and custodial workers suffered to their own fellow members of Congress, "he wrote in another pair of tweets, urging Cruz, who has eight million fewer followers on Twitter than her, to "get out of her chronology [on the social network] and stop chasing influences."
When asked about his comments, Cruz told reporters: “There is a lot of partisan anger and rage on the Democratic side.
It is not healthy for our country, it is certainly not conducive to healing or unity, but everyone has to decide how they want to interact with others. "
[Senator Ted Cruz leads the Republican opposition to the results and could thus benefit]
Ocasio-Cortez scoffed at her comments on Twitter:
"What do you think should be the logical response to your lies? A hug? Maybe there is anger because your actions deserve responsibility," she
wrote.
The two politicians had worked together in 2019 on an anti-lobbying bill.
Cruz, who raised money from his objections to the electoral vote count, has insisted that he was not trying to challenge the election results and did not incite violence.
"Debating a constitutional law issue in the full Senate is the antithesis of trying to resolve conflicts through a violent terrorist attack
,
"
he defended earlier this month.
[“It was a joke”: Goya's CEO named Ocasio-Cortez 'employee of the month'. She says she never called for a boycott of her products]
Hawley also testified on St. Louis radio station KMOX that he had not attempted to overturn the election results.
"I never said the goal was to reverse the election,"
Hawley alleged Thursday.
"That was never the goal and it was never possible," he added.
But when asked in a Fox News interview on January 4 if Trump would remain president on January 20, Hawley said "that would depend on what happens on Wednesday." That's why we have the debate, "he said.