Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) Discussed the shelter with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-CortezOcasio-Cortez says he is a survivor of sexual assault while narrating the Capitol riot. Democrats seek to make Marjorie Taylor Greene the face of GOP Juan Williams: GOP shrinks from QAnon MORE (DN.Y.) during the Capitol riot last month, revealing that the New York lawmaker told her that “I hope to be a mother” and “I hope I don’t die today”.
Porter said he saw Ocasio-Cortez as the buildings on the Capitol were evacuated leading to pro-Trump protesters who violated the Capitol itself. The California lawmaker said Ocasio-Cortez asked if she and an employee could enter Porter’s office.
“Alex is usually unfailingly polite and very personal, and she didn’t even speak to me. She was opening doors and I was like, ‘Can I help you? What are you looking for? ‘And she said,’ I’m looking for where I’m going to hide, ‘”Porter told MSNBC on Monday.
Porter said she tried to console Ocasio-Cortez, saying, “Well, don’t worry, I’m a mom … [and] I have everything we need to live by, like, a month in this office. “
“She said, ‘I just hope to be a mother. I hope I don’t die today, ”” Porter told MSNBC.
The California lawmaker also noted that she and Ocasio-Cortez discussed choosing shoes while taking shelter in the office, in case they needed to flee violent protesters. Porter wore flat shoes on the day of the riot, while Ocasio-Cortez wore heels.
“I remember her saying to me, ‘I knew I shouldn’t wear heels, how am I going to run?’ And we went and found her a pair of sneakers with one of my employees so she could run if she literally had to run to save her life, ”said Porter on Monday.
Ocasio-Cortez shared Porter’s comments on Twitter on Monday, thanking her “for holding him that day” and calling her “a wonderful friend”.
Thank you @katieporteroc for holding you that day, you are a wonderful friend https://t.co/UvvZKDYwEr
– Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 2, 2021
Porter said that she waited in her office for six hours during the rebellion and that no police or other officers came to check that she and her employees were okay.
“The Capitol Police never took responsibility for the safety of all members, so we heard voices in the hall. We didn’t know what they were, if they were police [or] if they were intruders, then we just stayed in the dark, ”said Porter, adding that she and others in her office sat in silence“ in the hope that [would] just keep running. ”
Porter added that the Capitol Police did not initially instruct lawmakers to “go to a shelter” when they evacuated office buildings on Capitol Hill.
Ocasio-Cortez shared his experience during the Capitol rebellion live on Instagram on Monday night. She said she was in her office earlier in the day, before taking shelter in Porter’s office, when she heard knocking on doors. She told viewers that she hid in the bathroom and heard a man, who was later identified as a Capitol cop, shouting, “Where is she?”
“I thought I was going to die,” she said. “You have a lot of thoughts, I think, when you’re in a situation like this. And as well as one of those thoughts that I have is … I really feel that if this is the plan for me, then people will be able to take it from here. “