“I thought I was going to die”

WASHINGTON – Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an Instagram Live Tuesday night that she had a “very close encounter” on January 6, the day of the violent uprising on the U.S. Capitol, and that she believed she ” was going to die. “

Ocasio-Cortez did not provide many details on what happened to her on January 6, saying she was not sure she could “divulge all the details” given the security concerns. But she called the meeting “traumatic,” saying, “I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it to the end of this day alive.”

Ocasio-Cortez was not on Capitol Hill Tuesday night as the House voted to ask Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office after instigating the attack on Capitol Hill. She voted by proxy, getting another Democrat to vote for the resolution on her behalf.

The Democrat said she was concerned during the assault on Capitol Hill that other members of Congress were aware of her location and did not feel safe going to the same safe place as her colleagues because of members who believe in the collective illusion of QAnon and “frankly, white supremacist members of Congress … whom I know and who I believe would disclose my whereabouts,” saying she feared there were colleagues “who would create opportunities for me to be injured, kidnapped, etc. “She said she” didn’t feel safe with other members of Congress. “

Ocasio-Cortez said members of Congress “almost escaped death” during the riot. She praised the work of the Capitol Police officers, especially officers of color, but also referred to “acts of treason”.

“Running around the Capitol and not knowing if an officer is there to help or hurt you is also very traumatic,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t posted much on Instagram since the attack and recently posted a story saying that the January 6 attack was traumatic and she would need more time to recover before educating subscribers about what happened.

Ocasio-Cortez’s office, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Capitol Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.

During his live broadcast, Ocasio-Cortez spoke at length about the attempted coup, asking what is the end of the game for political nihilism. “What claim will you have? That you run a destroyed company? That the ashes belong to you?”

She also called the Senses. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, who led the Senate campaign to try to overturn election results after the Capitol riot, saying they “voted not out of genuine conviction” but out of “political ambition.”

She joined a chorus of Democrats calling for their resignations, saying “You do not belong to the United States Senate,” adding that both senators have acted to bolster their potential campaigns for the presidency in 2024. “Let me give you a snapshot. Sneak peek: You’ll never be president. You’ll never get respect from this country, never. Never. And you should step down,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez also called on the other 145 Republicans in the House and Senate who voted to try to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory after the attack to also step down from their seats.

Katherine Miller contributed to this story.