Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on Monday revealed that she is a survivor of sexual assault.
The 31-year-old Democrat, speaking to more than 100,000 people on Instagram Live, described what she went through during the Capitol rebellion and made suggestions by some Republicans that Americans “continue” with the January 6 attack.
“The reason I’m getting emotional right now is because these people who tell us to move on … those are the same tactics as abusers,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
“And I’m a sexual assault survivor,” she continued, her voice breaking. “I didn’t say that to many people in my life.”
The congresswoman told more than 130,000 viewers that, regardless of the type of abuse or neglect they have suffered, “the trauma gets worse.”
“There isn’t, something really big happens to you and then you deal with it and move on, and then when something else happens to you, you deal with it,” she said.
She did not immediately add anything about the attack.
Ocasio-Cortez later detailed scary experiences during the siege, including how a man she believed to be a rowdy broke into her Congressional office while she hid in the bathroom.
She remembers hearing him shout “Where is she? Where is she?”
“This was the moment when I thought it was over,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said. “I have never been so quiet in my life.”
Her legislative director later told her to leave, explaining that the man was a Capitol police officer.
Ocasio-Cortez also asked her to apologize after tweeting that Senator Ted Cruz “almost murdered me” during the riot.
“Some of the representatives who really encouraged people to threaten members of Congress … are apologizing to me for telling and telling the truth about what happened.”
“These are the tactics that abusers use,” she said. “And how I feel, not again.
“I won’t let that happen to me again … and I won’t let that happen to our country.”