Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany of neglecting to call her a congresswoman based on her race Monday when she addressed efforts by Democrats to defund police departments during a White House press briefing.
Jake Sherman, a reporter with Politico Playbook, quoted McEnany as referring to Ocasio-Cortez as “Biden adviser Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.”
The freshman lawmaker from the Bronx took exception to that characterization.
“[McEnany] wouldn’t be the first person to mistake a women of color for having a lower position or title than she does,” Ocasio-Cortez responded. “But Kayleigh – in case you haven’t picked up a newspaper in two years, I’m a Congresswoman.”
Read the transcript, Congresswoman @AOC ⬇️ https://t.co/knvCMmVjWh pic.twitter.com/q6uRWROYNA
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) June 8, 2020
McEnany implied her full remarks had been taken out of context and tweeted a short passage from a transcript of Monday’s White House press briefing.
Video shows her full comments were: “The president is appalled by the ‘defund the police’ movement. The fact that you have sitting congresswomen wanting to defund the police, notably Rashida Tlaib, notably Biden adviser AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Clinton and Eric Holder spokesperson Brian Fallon, wanting to defund our police across the country? It is extraordinary.”
McEnany deadpanned: “Read the transcript, Congresswoman.”
“Read the transcript” is also play on a phrase President Trump used to defend him against allegations of abuse of power during a phone call with the president of Ukraine.
