In a Thursday morning email to their supporters, political action committee Justice Democrats proclaimed that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had specifically targeted their congressional members and that her “totally out-of-line lashing out at our squad continues.” Justice Democrats was founded in part by Saikat Chakrabarti, who is currently Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff. The PAC also endorses Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Raúl Grijalva, Ro Khanna, Ayanna Pressley, and Pramila Jayapal â together known to Justice Democrats as the “squad.”
The email, which came moments after Speaker Pelosi concluded a morning press conference, cited several instances in which Justice Democrats’ star congresswomen had been specifically singled out and shamed in recent days. The email continued, “In a closed door meeting yesterday, Pelosi singled out the squad and their staffers, telling them to stop ‘publicly attacking other members’ and not to ‘tweet about it.'”
Of the feud between the squad and Pelosi, AOC told the Washington Post on Wednesday, “When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an armâs distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood … But the persistent singling out … it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”
Justice Democrats doubled down on AOC’s condemnation saying in their email, “We cannot believe that Pelosi doesnât realize how bad of a precedent this is. Sheâs singling out four new leaders who are progressive women of color, and are already under constant attack by Fox News, racists, and conservatives at large.” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a Tuesday night segment that Omar “has undisguised contempt for the United States and for its people” further claiming she was an ungrateful immigrant who serves as a warning that the U.S. Immigration system is broken. Omar responded the next day by calling Carlson a “racist fool.”
The incendiary email from Justice Democrats continued, “But honestly, the most infuriating part about this stems from whoâs getting the blame for rocking the boat. Conservative Democrats who are members of the ‘problem solvers caucus’ blew up Pelosiâs own border bill, and threatened to revolt if we didnât hand over ICE and border patrol a $4.6 billion blank check. Understandably, the squad wasnât too happy about that.”
The message from the squad signed off with a call to action for their supporters to rebuke what “conservative Democrats” like Pelosi had been doing. The said, “Hereâs our fundamental problem: there are 235 Democrats in the House, and 200 Republicans. That means that it only takes 18 Democrats to kill a bill, and get their way. There are 18+ conservative Dems who are willing to use that leverage â but we do not have 18 progressives willing to do the same. But if we buckle down, organize like hell, and fight for progressive Justice Democrats across the country, maybe we will in 2020.”
