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AOC reportedly overrides Pelosi, threatens moderate Dems to get on board or join a list for 2020 defeat

March 1, 2019 | | Print Article

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had her hands full as she tried to rein in moderate Democrats who were being targeted by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The self-proclaimed democratic socialist managed to upstage Pelosi as Democrats’ infighting escalated in a contentious closed-door meeting on Thursday, according to The Washington Post.

(Image: screenshot)

A bill expanding federal background checks for all gun purchases triggered the explosive session after 26 moderate Democrats joined Republicans to amend the measure by requiring that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement be notified when an illegal immigrant attempts to purchase a firearm.

“We are either a team or we’re not, and we have to make that decision,” a frustrated Pelosi told about two dozen moderates lawmakers, The Post reported, citing “two people present but not authorized to discuss the remarks publicly.”

But Ocasio-Cortez reportedly threatened to run them out of office in 2020, warning that any Democrats who side with Republicans “are putting themselves on a list,” according to her spokesman, Corbin Trent.

“She said that when activists ask her why she had to vote for a gun safety bill that also further empowers an agency that forcibly injects kids with psychotropic drugs, they’re going to want a list of names and she’s going to give it to them,” Trent said.

Republicans managed to pull a “motion to recommit” in their favor Wednesday, causing an embarrassing setback for the House Democrats who were all in when they decided to push through “The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019,” until their GOP colleagues insisted an amendment be added that would use the same law to alert federal authorities when an illegal immigrant tries to purchase a firearm illegally as well.

“We won a big victory!” an angry Pelosi told reporters asking about the procedural hiccup instead of focusing on the bill. “I don’t know why you’re dwelling — what you have to dwell on is a historic victory.”

But behind the scenes, she called out Democrats as the meeting on Thursday fractured into recriminations and threats by the New York freshman who has already made it clear she is “the boss” when the rest of the class forgets how to play by the rules.

Ocasio-Cortez mocked critics while touting herself and the socialistic Green New Deal to transform the American economy with an estimated cost of $93 trillion in its first decade, squeezing $600,000 per household.

The progressive-pushed resolution has divided the Democrat Party as Democratic hopefuls including New Jersey’s Cory Booker, New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar and Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders have co-sponsored the resolution and have all voiced their support.

Meanwhile, Pelosi seems to have dismissed the plan as well as the Medicare-for-All proposal, two key measures from the progressive wing of her party.

“Now, in terms of the Green New Deal [as conceived], that goes beyond what our charge is. Our charge is about saving the planet,” she told Rolling Stone in a new Rolling Stone interview.

For Ocasio-Cortez, there was no doubt in her interview with the publication that she is not bluffing.

“Well, I don’t worry about splintering the party, but as I’ve said in the past, we can’t just be a party of the most basic rights,” she told Rolling Stone.

Reactions to the heated meeting came in on Twitter:

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Frieda Powers
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