'Having a daughter does not make a man decent:' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemns Rep. Ted Yoho for his statement about his reported 'f---ng b----' comments

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized GOP Representative Ted Yoho on Thursday for both verbally accosting her on the steps of the US Capitol and declining to take full responsibility for it.
• On Tuesday, The Hill reported that Yoho confronted Ocasio-Cortez, calling her "crazy" and "disgusting" and then called her "a f------ b----."
• In a Wednesday speech, Yoho said he regretted the nature of the confrontation, invoked his wife and two daughters, and said he could not "apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family, and my country."
• "I believe having a daughter does not make a man decent," Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday. "Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York sharply condemned GOP Representative Ted Yoho of Florida for verbally accosting her outside the steps of Capitol Hill and criticized what was, in her view, an insufficient attempt at a public apology.

Speaking on the House floor on Thursday morning, Ocasio-Cortez began her speech by saying that Yoho had called her a "f----- b----" after confronting and verbally assaulting her, an incident that was first reported by The Hill on Tuesday.

"I was minding my own business walking up the steps and Rep. Yoho put his finger in my face, he called me disgusting, he called me crazy, he called me out of mind, and he called me dangerous," she said. A reporter from the Hill who overheard the exchange said Yoho confronted Ocasio-Cortez over remarks she had made connecting increases in crime to unemployment.

Yoho, a four-term representative for Florida's third district, is retiring after this term.

Ocasio-Cortez said she had encountered verbal abuse before as a bartender in New York City and that Yoho's language was "not new" nor was she "deeply hurt or offended" by his comments. But she noted that she "could not let go" of Yoho's further statements on the House floor, when she said he "made excuses" and did not own up to his actions.

"I could not allow my nieces, I could not allow the little girls I go home, I could not allow the victims of verbal abuse and worse to see that, to see that excuse, and to see our Congress accept it as legitimate and accept it as an apology," she said.

She also criticized Yoho for using his wife and daughters as "shields and excuses for poor behavior" in his own remarks.

"Mr. Yoho mentioned that he has a wife and two daughters. I am two years younger than Mr. Yoho's youngest daughter. I am someone's daughter too. My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho's disrespect on the floor of the House towards me on television. I am here, because I have to show my parents, that I am their daughter, and they did not raise me to accept abuse from men."

—CSPAN (@cspan) July 23, 2020

In a floor speech on Wednesday, Yoho did not deny the confrontation with Ocasio-Cortez and said he now regrets "the strife he injected into the already contentious Congress" and apologized for the "abrupt manner" in which he addressed her.

"Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I'm very cognizant of my language. The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding," he said, adding that he "cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family, and my country."

Ocasio-Cortez said that Yoho's behavior using vulgar language in front of the media is far bigger than her, but "gave permission to use that language against his wife, his daughters, women in his community."

She added: "I believe having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man. And when a decent man messes up, as we are all bound to do, he tries his best and does apologize."

In a news conference, House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy said he believed Yoho's apology was sufficient saying, "In America, people make mistakes. We're a forgiving nation. I also think when someone apologizes, they should be forgiven."