'You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago': AOC rejects Ted Cruz's support for her criticism of Robinhood
- AOC rejected Ted Cruz's support for her criticism of the stock-trading app Robinhood.
- Cruz said he "fully" agreed with her opposition to the app's blocking users from buying some stocks.
- "You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out," she replied.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turned down Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's support for her criticism of the trading app Robinhood's move to block some stock purchases.
Robinhood and other trading platforms blocked users from buying shares of some companies whose stock prices shot up after day traders on Reddit started buying shares and options en masse. The rally torched hedge funds that had heavily shorted the stocks.
Before markets opened on Thursday, Robinhood told its clients they could only close out their positions on GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, and Nokia, among others, but could not buy more shares.
"This is unacceptable," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp's decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit. As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I'd support a hearing if necessary."
Cruz, a far-right Republican who recently spearheaded his party's crusade against certifying President Joe Biden's election win, quoted Ocasio-Cortez's tweet and signaled his support.
But Ocasio-Cortez, a leading voice in the House progressive coalition, rejected Cruz's endorsement and called for his resignation because of his complicity in the election disinformation that inspired the siege on the Capitol on January 6.
"I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there's common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out," she tweeted. "Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign."
She added: "You haven't even apologized for the serious physical + mental harm you contributed to from Capitol Police & custodial workers to your own fellow members of Congress.
"In the meantime, you can get off my timeline & stop clout-chasing," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Thanks. Happy to work with other GOP on this."
Cruz was one of seven Republican senators who voted against the certification of electoral votes after the siege, and he backed President Donald Trump's campaign to overturn the election result.
Following the siege, Cruz said Trump's "language and rhetoric" in his earlier speech to loyalists outside the White House "crossed the line." Trump was impeached by the House two weeks ago on a charge of inciting the insurrection, but Cruz has called the effort "vindictive" and a "mistake."
Several Democrats have since called for Cruz and other GOP lawmakers to resign or be expelled from the Senate.
"Senator, those terrorists wouldn't have been at the Capitol if you hadn't staged this absurd challenge to the 2020 results in the first place," the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle wrote earlier this month, adding, "So, we call for another consequence, one with growing support across Texas: Resign."
Ocasio-Cortez said last week that "a very considerable" number of her Democratic colleagues "still don't yet feel safe around other members of Congress" following the deadly attack on the Capitol. One of the people charged in the riot had posted death threats against Ocasio-Cortez online, prosecutors said. Ocasio-Cortez has also condemned GOP Rep. Andy Harris for trying to carry a gun onto the House floor in violation of House rules.
"The moment you bring a gun onto the House floor, in violation of rules, you put everyone around you in danger," Ocasio-Cortez said. "It is irresponsible. It is reckless."