Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., says in an interview airing Wednesday that she'd be "absolutely" willing to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to resolve their differences, while Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., added she's also open to a meeting — with conditions.
Ocasio-Cortez told CBS This Morning anchor Gayle King that her staff has been in touch with Pelosi's office, and a spokesman for the speaker said on Tuesday that the freshman congresswoman had asked for a one-on-one meeting, and that they were working on scheduling a time.
Further, the spokesman said Pelosi's chief of staff had met with the chiefs of staff for Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., all of whom King interviewed on Tuesday for the Wednesday morning exclusive.
Meanwhile, Tlaib said Pelosi, D-Calif., has "every right" to sit down with Ocasio-Cortez, or "with any of us," as she's the House speaker.
"She can ask for a meeting to sit down with us for clarification," Tlaib said. "Acknowledge the fact that we are women of color, so when you do single us out, be aware of that and what you're doing, especially because some of us are getting death threats, because some of us are being singled out in many ways because of our backgrounds, because of our experiences and so forth."
Ocasio-Cortez last week accused the speaker of "singling out newly elected women of color" after she downplayed the squad's political influence.
Meanwhile, Tlaib told King that President Donald Trump's tweets telling her and the other three congresswomen to go back to their home countries were a "distraction" from the "biggest bully I've ever had to deal with in my lifetime."
Ocasio-Cortez also said in the interview, conducted before a House vote to condemn Trump's tweets, that Republicans have not done enough to condemn Trump's tweets and comments.
"They could not bring themselves to have the basic human decency to vote against the statement that the president made on the floor," she said. Tlaib added that the inaction sends a message of "normalization," and that Republicans are choosing Trump over their country.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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