'AOClied' Claim Deemed False by Fact Check

Critics of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez started circulating the hashtag #AOClied in response to the congresswoman's harrowing account of the Jan. 6 mob attack on the US Capitol—but it has now been taken over by pictures of animals. AOC supporters are backing her by using the hashtag when posting photos of their pets, the Hill reports. An Associated Press fact check determined Ocasio-Cortez did not lie in her video account. The AP points out that the lawmaker never claimed to have been in the actual Capitol building, nor that she came face to face with rioters, which are some of the things her critics are claiming she "lied" about. She clearly stated she was in her office in a Capitol office building, and explained that the encounter that frightened her ended up being a Capitol police officer who didn't announce himself as such.

Fellow Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican, didn't use the hashtag but did tweet, "I'm two doors down from @aoc and no insurrectionists stormed our hallway..." She and Ocasio-Cortez then went back and forth, with AOC tweeting, "This is a deeply cynical & disgusting attack, @NancyMace. As the Capitol complex was stormed and people were being killed, none of us knew in the moment what areas were compromised. You previously told reporters yourself that you barricaded in your office, afraid you’d be hurt." In that and other tweets, including a retweet from Mace herself, AOC pointed out Mace's previous comments about sleeping in her office that night out of fear she'd be attacked at her hotel by Trump supporters angry she'd voted to certify the electoral results. "Now," AOC tweeted, "you’re contradicting your own account to attack me for Fox News clicks."