Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez started her PowerPoint presentation, which was meant to address the Trump administration’s budget reductions, but a pro-Palestine protester disrupted the program and called her a “liar” and asked about the “genocide” in Gaza.
During a district town hall event on Friday night, Cortez, D-NY, was talking about budget reductions, including proposed cuts to local healthcare systems, when the interruption occurred.
“I am a healthcare worker and I want to know what you’re doing about the genocide in Gaza!” the protestor called out loudly at the representative.
The audience responded with chants of “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and audible “boos” directed at the disruptive individual.
Despite Ocasio-Cortez’s attempts to calm the situation, the protestor remained uncontrollable. Event staff allowed the person to continue until they eventually escorted her out willingly.
“Shame on you, you’re a liar. You’re a liar!” the woman exclaimed amidst continued booing.
“Shame on you, I used to support you,” the woman declared whilst leaving. “You’re a war criminal! War criminal! War Criminal!”
After order was restored, Ocasio-Cortez addressed the incident.
“I more than welcome people who disagree, or are super pissed off at me for any issue to come, but we have some ground rules here,” she explained to attendees. “Please wait for the Q&A, because we don’t want to deprive all of our neighbors of the ability to have information and hearing them respond to it… We need to be able to have this conversation.”
Amid speculation about her political aspirations, Ocasio-Cortez secured an impressive $9.6 million in fundraising over the previous quarter. This substantial amount ranks amongst the highest ever collected by a House representative. Her team noted that 266,000 individual donors contributed, with donations averaging $21, Fox News reported.
“I cannot convey enough how grateful I am to the millions of people supporting us with your time, resources, & energy. Your support has allowed us to rally people together at record scale to organize their communities,” Ocasio-Cortez stated in a social media post.