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- Donald Trump said AOC elicited fear in Congress because she had a strong base like him, a new book extract says.
- Trump said the AOC was a "failed geek", but praised her for her outsize influence in the Democrat Party.
- He made the comments at a closed-door event with business leaders including Jeff Bezos in 2019.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Former President Donald Trump said that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made old men "shiver in fear" in the halls of Congress, reports say.
Trump reportedly made the comments at an event attended by a hundred business leaders in 2019, according to an excerpt from the book "In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP" by journalist David Drucker, seen by The Daily Mail.
In the closed-door meeting, Trump called the New York congresswoman a "failed geek" but expressed admiration for her outsize influence within the Democratic Party.
"Let me tell you something about AOC. I've watched her walk down the halls of Congress, and I see these old men shiver in fear. They shiver in fear whenever they see her," Trump said.
"You want to know why? Because AOC has a base, just like me."
Trump's comments elicited "nervous laughter" from the crowd, according to the book extract quoted by The Daily Mail.
Trump also reportedly told the business leaders that reelecting him was the only way to continue their work and defeat AOC's Green New Deal.
"You definitely want to see me reelected if you want to keep being in business," Trump said.
"You've got this Green New Deal. It's completely crazy. It'll completely shut down American energy. And it's from this failed geek, Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez."
Trump's speech was an early reelection pitch, the book said, which came shortly after the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections.
High-profile business leaders in the audience included Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and CEOs of companies like JP Morgan, Boeing, and Blackrock.
Some members of Trump's entourage were also in attendance, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his daughter Ivanka Trump.