Rep. Nancy Mace said Thursday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "doesn't deal in reality" after the New York congresswoman launched counterattacks to Mace's statements questioning her version of the events of the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol.
"I was two doors down from AOC," the freshman South Carolina Republican said on Fox News' "America Reports." "Not at one moment during the events of Jan. 6 was any insurrectionist coming down the hallways where our offices are located."
Earlier this week, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., posted a dramatic video on her Instagram page about how she'd hidden in her office while the rioting was going on. Mace, in a tweet, called out the media's coverage of the video and pointed out that both their offices are located in the Cannon House Office Building at the Capitol complex, not in the main building itself.
Ocasio-Cortez hit back in a series of tweets, accusing critics of "manipulating" the facts on the Capitol complex to cast doubt on her.
"All I did was state the facts," Mace said Thursday. "I live in reality. I deal with facts, not fiction. I said there were no rioters in the hallways of Cannon. I am two doors down from you. She lost it today. She doesn't deal in reality. We take members to task when they are not being honest with the American people. This division is hurting our country."
Mace said she would not discount that Ocasio-Cortez was traumatized, as she herself felt like she was a "sitting duck and like my life was in danger."
"But at no time were there rioters at our doors and banging to get in," said Mace, also criticizing Ocasio-Cortez for her attacks on the Capitol Police.
"The only thing standing between us and the rioters were the Capitol Police," she said. "I'm not going to discount the trauma that each of us experienced. But we need to be factual and describe what happened. I'm telling the truth today."
Mace also said she didn't want to engage in a fight, but she did want to point out that there were no rioters banging on their office doors.
"She's good at politicizing events to her advantage," said Mace. "We have seen that throughout her tenure in Congress ... I feel like this is an episode of 'Jerry Springer' right now. It's a circus, but we are paid a lot of money to do a job. I am here to work and that's what we need to be doing."
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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