Hannity invites Ocasio-Cortez to join prime-time show for full hour

Fox News host Sean Hannity extended an open invitation to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to join his prime-time show for a full hour on Thursday after the rookie congresswoman faced a week of criticism for an ongoing spat between her and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“I’m going to extend tonight an offer to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Hannity said, addressing the camera directly. ”I know she watches. She’s on Twitter. She tweets about the show. I want to give you an hour invitation on this show to have a discussion.”

Hannity also offered the full three hours of his radio show to Ocasio-Cortez.{mosads}

“You get a lot of criticism on this program. We’ll talk. We’ll have a conversation. Hope you’ll join us,” the host said before handing off to host Laura Ingraham, who noted that she also had invited Ocasio-Cortez on her program.

Hannity, a staunch supporter of President Trump, has extended such invitations on his program before, including to former FBI Director James Comey last year.

Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive member of the lower chamber and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, has appeared multiple times on MSNBC and CNN, but has yet to appear on Fox News for any sit-down interviews. 

The rookie lawmaker faced sharp criticism this week for a feud with the Speaker, accusing Pelosi of putting a target on “newly elected women of color” for their far-left policy positions. Ocasio-Cortez faced criticism from some of her Democratic colleagues for what they said were unrealistic views about her influence in Congress that were hurting Democrats’ policy agenda.

The tensions followed after Pelosi told The New York Times last weekend that the “squad” of progressive House freshmen — Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) — were the only Democrats to oppose the party’s border bill. The Speaker said the four therefore had less clout in any subsequent debate over the bill’s Senate version, despite their massive social media presence.

The Hill has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez for comment.