Rep. Chip Roy calls on AOC to apologize for tweeting Cruz ‘almost had me murdered’

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A Texas congressman is demanding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez apologize for her claim that Sen. Ted Cruz "almost had me murdered" during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday asking her to make the New York Democrat retract her "scurrilous charge" against Cruz, R-Texas.

"[S]he accused Senator Ted Cruz, in essence, of attempted murder," Roy wrote in the letter to Pelosi, D-Calif.

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"...[I]t is completely unacceptable behavior for a Member of Congress to make this kind of scurrilous charge against another member in the House or Senate for simply engaging in speech and debate regarding electors as they interpreted the Constitution," Roy wrote. 

UNITED STATES - APRIL 2: Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, left, listens during the House Oversight and Reform Committee markup of a resolution authorizing issuance of subpoenas related to security clearances and the 2020 Census on Tuesday, April 2m 2019. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (Getty Images)

Spokespeople for Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to Fox News' requests for comment. 

Ocasio-Cortez, however, did retweet a message from her colleague Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who said the Squad member doesn't owe anyone an apology. 

"Members of your party incited a riot that killed police and brought violence to Congress," Connolly tweeted to Roy. "The death threats continue still. She's not the one who owes her colleagues an apology here."

The public dustup between Ocasio-Cortez and Cruz occurred on Twitter this week when both were speaking out against the move by the retail trading platform Robinhood to restrict customers from trading shares of GameStop. Cruz said he "fully" agreed with Ocasio-Cortez's position that a congressional hearing may be necessary.

But Ocasio-Cortez responded by blasting Cruz for his very public role in leading the effort in the Senate to object to President Biden's electoral college victory on Jan. 6 in Congress, which was the backdrop for the mob of pro-Trump supporters storming the Capitol.

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"I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign."

Cruz led the challenge to Arizona's Electoral College votes on Jan. 6 in a move that gave oxygen to former President Trump's false claims that he'd won the presidential election and Congress could overturn the results.

"You know, there's a lot of partisan anger and rage on the Democratic side, right? And it's not healthy," Cruz said in response to the tweet. "For our country, it's certainly not conducive of healing or unity. But everyone has to decide how they want to interact with others."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Congress is "looking into" media literacy initiatives to help "rein in" the press to combat misinformation in the wake of the deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol. (Photographer: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images) (Getty Images)

The attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 left five people dead, including a police officer who was fighting off the attackers. The rioters broke into the Capitol, interrupted the certification of Biden's electoral win and forced members of the House and Senate to take shelter.

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Roy, who used to work for Cruz in the Senate, disagreed with the electoral college objections led by his former boss and said Trump "deserves universal condemnation for what was clearly, in my opinion, impeachable conduct." But he said Ocasio-Cortez's accusations went too far.

"I ask you to call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments," Roy wrote to Pelosi. "If Representative Ocasio-Cortez does not apologize immediately, we will be forced to find alternative means to condemn this regrettable statement."

Fox News' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.