Prior to testifying to the House Oversight and Reform Committee on the conditions of the border detention facilities, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made an unusual request: she wanted to be sworn in.
Chairman Elijah Cummings obliged the New York Democrat’s request, but noted, “We usually don’t require a swearing in.”
In a tweet explaining why she asked to be sworn in, Ocasio-Cortez said it was because Republicans had been “stating that I am lying about the translated accounts of migrants at the border.”
It is against the law to lie to Congress, even if someone is not sworn in.
“Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is more interested in scoring political points than actually solving the crisis at the southern border,” a Republican source close to the committee told the Washington Examiner.
“Time and time again, she chooses photo-ops over actually legislating. Just look at today’s hearing. She asked to be sworn in prior to testifying before the Oversight Committee — something that never happens for members of Congress,” they added. “But that doesn’t matter to her. She just needed something to tweet. It just shows that Democrats are obsessed with political theater and attacking the president, rather than solving real problems facing the American people.”
Democrats also gripped on Ocasio-Cortez’s “requesting to be sworn in at today’s border hearing for photo op.”
Democrats now grumbling on the House floor about @AOC requesting to be sworn in at today’s border hearing for photo op
Chair @RepCummings had to politely tell her they usually don’t do that https://t.co/DM9cJvyr95
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) July 12, 2019
During her testimony, Ocasio-Cortez retold how she saw the horrible conditions the border detention facilities are in and the abuse migrants face at the hands of border agents.
“What’s worse, Mr. Chairman, was the fact that there were American flags hanging all over these facilities,” she said. “That children were being separated from their parents in front of the American flag, that women were being called these names under an American flag, we cannot allow for this.”
She also stood by her claim of migrant women being told by border agents to drink out of the toilet because the sinks were not working.
GOP has been stating that I am lying about the translated accounts of migrants at the border, particularly about the fact that women were drinking out of a toilet bowl. Committee staff conferred with me ahead of time about requesting to be sworn in.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 12, 2019
