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- AOC rejected Ted Cruz’s support for her criticism of the stock trading app Robinhood.
- Cruz said he “fully [agreed]” with AOC’s opposition to the app blocking users from buying some stocks.
- “You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out,” AOC replied.
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New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turned down Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s support for her criticism of the trading app Robinhood’s recent actions related to some stock purchases.
Robinhood and other trading platforms have blocked users from buying shares of some companies whose stock prices shot up after day traders on Reddit started buying shares and options en masse. The rally torched hedge funds who had heavily shorted the stocks.
Before markets opened on Thursday, Robinhood told its clients they could only close out their positions on those stocks – GameStop, AMC, Blackberry, and Nokia – but could not buy more shares.
“This is unacceptable,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted after the news dropped. “We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit. As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I’d support a hearing if necessary.”
Cruz, a far-right Republican who recently spearheaded his party’s crusade against certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, quoted Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet and signaled his support.
—Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 28, 2021
But the New York congresswoman, a leading voice in the House progressive coalition, rejected Cruz's endorsement and called for his resignation for his complicity in the election disinformation that inspired the January 6 Capitol siege.
"I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there's common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out," she tweeted. "Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign."
—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021
She added: "You haven't even apologized for the serious physical + mental harm you contributed to from Capitol Police & custodial workers to your own fellow members of Congress."
"In the meantime, you can get off my timeline & stop clout-chasing," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Thanks. Happy to work with other GOP on this."
Cruz was one of just seven Republican senators who voted against the certification of Electoral College votes after the siege and repeatedly backed President Donald Trump's campaign to overturn the results of the presidential election.
Following the siege, Cruz said Trump's "language and rhetoric" during his January 6 speech to loyalists outside the White House "crossed the line." Trump was impeached by the House two weeks ago on charges of inciting the insurrection, but Cruz has called the effort "vindictive" and a "mistake."
A slew of Democrats have since called for Cruz and other GOP lawmakers to resign or be expelled from the Senate.
"Senator, those terrorists wouldn't have been at the Capitol if you hadn't staged this absurd challenge to the 2020 results in the first place," the editorial board of a major Texas newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, wrote earlier this month. "So, we call for another consequence, one with growing support across Texas: Resign."
Ocasio-Cortez said last week that "a very considerable amount" of her Democratic colleagues "still don't yet feel safe around other members of Congress" following the deadly attack on the Capitol. One of the accused pro-Trump rioters posted death threats against Ocasio-Cortez online. The congresswoman has also condemned GOP Rep. Andy Harris for attempting to violate House rules and carry his concealed gun onto the House floor.
"The moment you bring a gun onto the House floor, in violation of rules, you put everyone around you in danger," Ocasio-Cortez said. "It is irresponsible. It is reckless."