Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Tuesday that Rep. Ted Yoho’s (R-FL) “apology” from the House floor was nothing more than empty words.
“I will not teach my nieces and young people watching that this is an apology,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted after Yoho made gestures at apologizing to the New York congresswoman for remarks that he had made on the Capitol steps on Monday, when he reportedly called the congresswoman a “fucking bitch.”
“Yoho is refusing responsibility,” she said, tweeting again shortly after that the congressman “didn’t even say my name.”
– Does not apologize or name any action he did
– Does not accept responsibility
– Lies (this was not a “conversation,” it was verbal assault)
– Distracts by making it abt poverty (ironically)
– Says everyone else is wrong and the incident never happened.This is not an apology.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 22, 2020
Yoho had reportedly called Ocasio-Cortez “disgusting” for saying that the coronavirus pandemic was one of the reasons for an upshot in crime in New York. “You’re out of your freaking mind,” Yoho reportedly told her.
Ocasio-Cortez said in response that the congressman was being “rude” before continuing her ascent up the stairs. A reporter from The Hill overheard Yoho say the words “fucking bitch” a few steps later as he continued his descent from the Capitol, joined by Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX).
“It is true that we disagree on policies and visions for America, but that does not mean we should be disrespectful,” Yoho said on Tuesday.
But Yoho said that the “offensive name-calling words” attributed to him by the press were “never spoken by me to my colleagues and if they were construed that way I apologize for their misunderstanding.”
Yoho watered down the sentiment of remorse when he added a political jab that he would not apologize for his passionate perspective on addressing “the face of poverty” or excusing crime.
“I cannot apologize for my passion, or for loving my God, my family, and my country,” Yoho said.
Karen Bass told The View’s Meghan McCain on Wednesday that many of Congress’ female members “gathered around” Ocasio-Cortez and “demanded that there be an apology.”
“I know that Yoho apologized today, we don’t think that’s enough, we’re not finished,” Bass said.
McCain had tweeted Tuesday that although she and Ocasio-Cortez disagreed on “literally almost everything,” Yoho was out of line for what she called an “archaic” and “despicable” “misogynistic trend” where any woman a man disagrees with “is a bitch.”
She said that Yoho, who has not made a bid for re-election, should “resign” if he’s not “emotionally mature enough to handle working with strong women.”
Rep. @KarenBassTweets reacts to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Yoho’s exchange, saying “all the women gathered around her and we demanded that there be an apology.”
“I know that Yoho apologized today. We don’t think that’s enough. We’re not finished.” https://t.co/VzSbPvr5IA pic.twitter.com/sgOsrstQGF
— The View (@TheView) July 22, 2020
