New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed on Monday that she is a survivor of sexual assault.
Speaking to more than 100,000 people on Instagram Live, the 31-year-old Democrat described what she experienced during the Capitol uprising and responded to suggestions from some Republicans that Americans “move on” from the January 6 attack.
“The reason I’m getting emotional right now is because these people telling us to move on … these are the same abusers tactics,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“And I am a survivor of sexual assault,” she went on, her voice breaking. “I haven’t told many people that in my life.”
The congresswoman told the more than 130,000 viewers that no matter what kind of abuse or neglect they have experienced, “trauma is to each other.”
“There’s no, something really big happens to you and then you deal with it and move on, and then if something else happens to you, you deal with it,” she said.
She didn’t immediately add anything else about the attack.
Ocasio-Cortez later described terrifying experiences during the siege, including how a man she thought was a rioter broke into her convention office while hiding in the bathroom.
She remembered hearing him shout, ‘Where is she? Where is she?”
“This was when I thought it was all over,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said. “I’ve never been so quiet in all my life.”
Her legislative director later told her to come out, explaining that the man was a Capitol police officer.
Ocasio-Cortez also addressed calls to her to apologize after she tweeted that Senator Ted Cruz “almost had me killed” during the riot.
“Some representatives who have actually encouraged people to threaten members of Congress … are actually asking me to apologize for saying and speaking the truth about what happened.”
“These are the tactics that abusers use,” she said. ‘And how I feel, not again.
“I’m not letting it happen to me again … and I’m not letting it happen to our country.”