Ocasio-Cortez Fires Back At Ted Yoho: ‘Hey, B*tches Get Stuff Done’

Rep. Alexandria Ocaiso-Cortez (D-NY) fired back at Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) after a report said he had referred to her as a “fucking bitch” Monday by tweeting “hey, b*tches get stuff done.”

I never spoke to Rep. Yoho before he decided to accost me on the steps of the nation’s Capitol yesterday.

Believe it or not, I usually get along fine w/ my GOP colleagues. We know how to check our legislative sparring at the committee door.

But hey, “b*tches” get stuff done. ??‍♀️ https://t.co/WlG3xccwR7

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 21, 2020

Yoho’s derogatory comments, overheard by a reporter for The Hill, followed an altercation on the Capitol steps Monday in which the GOP congressman reportedly said that Ocasio-Cortez was “disgusting” for her stance on issues of crime and policing.

“You are out of your freaking mind,” Yoho told the Democratic lawmaker for recently suggesting that poverty and unemployment are driving a spike in crime in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ocasio-Cortez responded by saying that Yoho was being “rude.”

After parting ways, Ocasio-Cortez headed into the building, while Yoho, joined by Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), descended toward the House office buildings. 

A few steps down, Yoho was heard by the reporter uttering the words, “Fucking bitch.”

Yoho’s office did not immediately respond to TPM for request to comment about the alleged remarks.

The exchange followed comments Ocasio-Cortez made earlier this month during a virtual town hall with the mothers of Eric Garner and Ramarley Graham — two Black men who were victims of police killings in New York that captured media attention in recent years. 

“Crime is a problem of a diseased society, which neglects its marginalized people,” the lawmaker said at the time when asked about the rising cases of gun violence in New York this summer. “Policing is not the solution to crime.”

Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, has long advocated for cutting police budgets and funneling those dollars into education, mental health and other social services. During the town hall, Ocasio-Cortez suggested that it was the “economic desperation” caused by the coronavirus pandemic — as well as the delayed delivery of federal stimulus checks and unemployment payments — that have contributed to the increase in reported crime. She described the dire consequences of a pandemic that has put many of New York’s poorest residents “in a position where they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry that night.”

Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that her outspoken advocacy of a progressive point of view has made her an obvious punching bag for conservatives.

“Obviously, I’m no stranger to this,” she said, but Yoho’s strident comments were something new.

“In all these intense news cycles, I have never, ever been treated that way by another member before,” Ocasio-Cortez said, according to The Hill. “I’m frankly quite taken aback.”