Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) invited one of the women who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in the elevator with her story of sexual assault to be her guest to the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, The Intercept reported.
Ana Maria Archila is one of Ocasio-Cortez’s constituents in Queens and is an active community organizer, according to the Intercept. Archila, along with fellow protester Maria Gallagher, confronted Flake in an elevator during the most contentious moments of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing and shared their stories of sexual assault with the senator. Shortly after, Flake told the Judiciary Committee he wouldn’t vote to confirm Kavanaugh unless the FBI opened another probe into the allegations of sexual assault that had surfaced against the judge.
Flake eventually voted to confirm Kavanaugh and said at the time his decision to call for an additional probe was not influenced by the two protesters, but their demonstration caught the attention of one of the most influential members of the freshman class of lawmakers.
