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AOC hid in bathroom during Capitol riots, thought she was going to die when someone yelled 'where is she?'

AOC teared up while recalling the horrific Capitol attack in an IG Live video and said she had never been quieter her entire life while hiding in the washroom

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who goes by the Twitter handle @AOC went on IG Live on Monday night to speak about her experience during the Capitol Hill riots. The IG Live left many feeling devastated as AOC claimed that at the time she "had a lot of thoughts", as she teared up during the video. 

AOC recounted her experience when people had breached her office during the riots. She also revealed that she had to hide in the bathroom behind the door. She said, "The folks who are saying we should move on, we shouldn’t have accountability, etc., are saying: ‘Can you just forget about this so that we can do it again?’...I'm not going to let it happen to me again ... and I'm not going to let it happen to our country." Explaining that she was "fulling bracing for impact" as she was prepared to jump out the window, she also didn't know which officers she could trust. "Are some offices safer than others because they have White-sounding names, or male-sounding names?" she said. 

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"I was watching @AOC’s IG live and my heart breaks to know a fraction of what she had to go through that day. I’m so glad she is okay and continues to fight for what’s right," wrote one user. Many were grateful for AOC's honesty. Another user added, "Have only been able to catch bits of AOC's IG live tn after work, but jfc. We are so lucky she ran for public office, and that she is so open and vulnerable about her truths and her trauma. We need more survivors in office. She is so brilliant and helps so many feel less alone."

During the video, she also revealed: “I’m a survivor of sexual assault. And I haven’t told many people that in my life.” She continued, “But when we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other. And so whether you had a neglectful parent or whether you had someone who was verbally abusive to you, whether you are a survivor of abuse, whether you experienced any sort of trauma in your life … These episodes can compound on one another.”

AOC also said, "If you have experienced any sort of trauma, just the fact of recognizing that and admitting it is already a huge step. Especially in a world where people are constantly trying to tell you that you didn't experience what you experienced, or that you're lying...Those are additional traumas on traumas that you've already experienced. There's the trauma of going through what you went through, and then there's the trauma afterwards. Of people not believing you, or trying to publicly humiliate you, or trying to embarrass you."

Senior Reporter of HuffPost, Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) posted a brief account of what happened during AOC's IG Live. The first tweet read, ".@AOC just shared on IG Live that she is a survivor of sexual assault." Many also posted recorded bits of the video, with one tweeting a part saying, "This was one of the most heartbreaking moments of AOC’s IG live." She explains how she hears the words 'WHERE IS SHE?' and she says that that was the moment she thought "everything was over". She speaks of how she lost "sense of time". She added, "I mean I thought I was going to die." The account for Justice Democrats too posted a bit of the Live, writing, "AOC recounting her horrifying experience hiding in her office during the insurrection. “I thought I was going to die...I have never been quieter in my entire life.”"

Some focused on the important technicalities of the situation, as one user wrote, "Shocking part of AOC's IG to me: Clearly they don't do safety drills. As students should know, and myself working in a setting where we do all types of drills routinely, this is baffling. Especially considering how many ex-military serve there." Some took it as far as questioning her ability to do her job as a user wrote, "AOC’s IG seems damning proof that she’s emotionally unstable, paranoid, delusional & unfit to serve in Congress." 

When one user wrote, "shes over dramatizing the entire situation and they were never in any danger," another snapped back writing, "A man broke into her office while she was in it. She hid in the bathroom while he screamed "where is she?!" and ransacked her office. She's one of the main targets of the right, what do you think would be happened if he found her?" Illustrator and app builder Jen Lewis added, "AOC's IG Live right now recounting her experience on January 6th is easily one of the most upsetting and enraging things I've ever witnessed."

Another user wrote, "If you watched AOC's IG Live feed tonight, please call your elected officials, Pelosi, Schumer, etc. first thing tomorrow. Demand accountability for the Republicans who helped incite the Capitol storming. This has to be dealt with. We can't just "move on" like we did in 2009." Another user added, "I hope people understand the importance of what @AOC is saying on IG live. Black and Brown folks have BEEN saying that the presence of police does not make us safer and she is giving her own experience of the same thing as a member of Congress. Police DO NOT equal public safety."