Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., suggested Thursday that a Republican colleague was racist for apparently calling her “squad” of progressive freshmen “Ayatollah sympathizers.”
The exchange began after Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., accused Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., of lying when she claimed that a classified briefing on Iran failed to show President Trump had any evidence of an imminent threat when he killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“I was in the same briefing as you, @RepJayapal, and this is absolutely false. You and your squad of Ayatollah sympathizers are spreading propaganda that divides our nation and strengthens our enemies,” Rutherford tweeted.
It’s unclear who exactly he was referring to but Ocasio-Cortez and others are frequently referred to as “the squad.” His comments came as Republicans accused Democrats of defending Iran in the wake of Soleimani’s death.