Ocasio-Cortez slams McConnell as picture shows men in ‘Team Mitch’ shirts 'groping & choking' her cutout
WASHINGTON: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on Monday, slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after a photo surfaced on social media, showing a group of young men, who were wearing "Team Mitch" shirts, "groping and chocking" a cardboard cutout of the New York Representative.
AOC, took to Twitter on Monday night, saying: "Hey @senatemajldr – these young men look like they work for you."
"Just wanted to clarify: are you paying for young men to practice groping & choking members of Congress w/ your payroll," she asked, "or is this just the standard culture of #TeamMitch?"
The picture, showing the men wearing white "Team Mitch" shirts and surrounding AOC's cutout, was posted on Facebook and then was shared on Twitter by a user named @emrazz. The caption of the Facebook post read: "Break me off a piece of that." The Twitter user @emrazz, in response, tweeted: "Future federal judges of America," in a seeming reference to Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh and the sexual assault allegations laid against him by Dr. Christine Ford Blasey.
Pictured: seven young white men in “Team Mitch” T-shirts, gathered round a distressed looking cardboard @AOC, groping and kissing her. The caption, “break me off a piece of that.”
— feminist next door (@emrazz) August 5, 2019
Future federal judges of America. pic.twitter.com/t877J7Pcye
The picture reportedly emerged on social media just a day after AOC publicly slammed McConnell in the wake of El Paso and Dayton shootings for not calling a Senate vote on gun reform bill passed by the Democratic-controlled House back in February.
The Congresswoman, on Sunday, tweeted: "The House passed HR8, a Bipartisan Background Checks Act, *5 months ago* and the Senate has yet to vote on it. It was one of our 1st major priorities after ending the gov shutdown. You’ve been sitting on it since February giving bogus excuses. Care to explain the people why?"
The New York lawmaker was responding to a McConnell tweet, where he offered his condolences to the victims of the El Paso shooting: "The entire nation is horrified by today’s senseless violence. Elaine’s and my prayers go out to the victims of this terrible violence, their families and friends, and the brave first responders who charged into harm’s way."
Multiple other lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Vermont Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, have urged McConnell to call Senate back into session and revisit the bill and take a vote on it.
The El Paso and Dayton mass shootings over the weekend claimed the lives of 31 people and injured dozens of others.