Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez feared she would be raped and killed during the deadly domestic terrorist attack on January 6.
The congresswoman spoke to CNN’s Dana Bash about her experience on the inaugural episode of CNN’s “Being…” that aired last night.
“I didn’t think that I was just going to be killed,” she said. “I thought other things were going to happen to me as well.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who is a sexual assault victim, says that the event triggered her.
“Survivors have a very strong set of skills. And the skills that are required as a survivor, the tools that you build for resilience, they come back in right away,” Representative Ocasio-Cortez said in June. “And for me, I felt like those skills were coming right back so that I could survive.”
The lawmaker believes that misogyny and racism had a strong influence on the attack.
“One of the reasons why that impact was so double that day is because of the misogyny and the racism that is so deeply rooted and animated the attack on the capitol,” she said.
“White supremacy and patriarchy are very linked in a lot of ways,” the New York Representative said. “There’s a lot of sexualizing of that violence, and I didn’t think that I was just going to be killed. I thought other things were going to happen to me as well.”
The congresswoman let Bash know that she doesn’t appreciate the way that Republicans are downplaying what happened during the riot.
“They’re trying to tell us to move on without any accountability, without any truth-telling, or without confronting the extreme damage, loss of life, trauma,” the 31-year-old lawmakers said. . “The reason I say this, and the reason I’m getting emotional is because they told us to move on, that it’s not a big deal, that we should forget what happened, or even telling us to apologize. These are the tactics of abusers.”
“I thought I was going to die. I have never been quieter in my entire life.”
Ocasio-Cortez first opened up about her experience during the attack on January 6, and the fact that she had previously been sexually assaulted back in February in an Instagram Live video.
You can watch the full episode on CNNgo or OnDemand.
