President Trump, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spar on Twitter
Trump's feud with the progressive Democrat congresswoman escalates on social media; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., turned her attention to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., amid her ongoing feud with President Trump over his recent controversial comments.
In the broadside, the freshman Democrat said McConnell is "complicit in advancing racism" in the wake of the president's remarks about four Democratic congresswomen -- including Ocasio-Cortez -- needing to "go back" where they came from. Three of the four women were born in America.
"The majority leader is complicit in advancing racism in America if he doesn't even have the backbone to speak out," Ocasio-Cortez told ABC on Tuesday.
Her comments followed days of controversy surrounding Trump's tweets, provoking responses from politicians in both chambers of Congress. McConnell, on Tuesday, called on "everybody" to "tone down their rhetoric."
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., similarly dismissed Ocasio-Cortez's and others' outrage surrounding Trump's tweets as "all about politics."
But according to Ocasio-Cortez, Trump's words constituted a "classic line of white supremacy." Trump's comments appeared to unify, at least temporarily, Democrats and prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to adamantly condemn Trump's comments on the House floor.
Before her comments, Trump attempted to tie the Speaker to Ocasio-Cortez and other freshmen in an apparent attempt to make the party seem more left-leaning before the 2020 elections.
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Ocasio-Cortez similarly predicted the controversy could bode well for her party in the upcoming elections. "Honestly, if these members go on the record condoning the president telling women of color to go back to their own country, I invite them to because we will win the 2020 election and we will take this country back."
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Not everyone Republican refrained from condemning Trump's remarks. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, both denounced Trump's comments on Monday.
“There is no excuse for the president’s spiteful comments –they were absolutely unacceptable and this needs to stop,” Murkowski tweeted.
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