Ocasio-Cortez defends Biden’s incoming deputy chief of staff amid blowback

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday came to the defense of President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming deputy chief of staff amid GOP criticism of the top aide’s explicit remarks about Republicans.

Ocasio-Cortez weighed in after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) knocked Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon for calling GOP lawmakers “a bunch of f—ers” in a recent interview with Glamour Magazine.

“Biden talks about unity and healing, but you want to know what they really think? Read how the person he wants as the next WH deputy chief of staff called Republicans in Congress a bunch of f***ers,” Rubio wrote.

Biden talks about unity and healing, but you want to know what they really think?

Read how the person he wants as the next WH deputy chief of staff called Republicans in Congress a bunch of f***ers

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 17, 2020

Ocasio-Cortez pushed back, pointing to an incident earlier this year when a House Republican accosted her on the Capitol steps and uttered “f—ing bitch.”

“.@marcorubio you stood by in total silence when your GOP colleague called a Congresswoman a ‘f— b—’ on the Capitol steps in front of press,” she wrote. “You weren’t big enough to speak then, & you don’t get to sob now.” 

.@marcorubio you stood by in total silence when your GOP colleague called a Congresswoman a “f— b—“ on the Capitol steps in front of press.

You weren’t big enough to speak then, & you don’t get to sob now.

BTW that is the right word for those who fleece & scam working families. https://t.co/gKoCnJ4App pic.twitter.com/qIERPlV7HR

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 17, 2020

Ocasio-Cortez also shared an image of a quote from one of her interviews with Vanity Fair Magazine, which read, “These are the same people saying that we can’t have tuition free public colleges because there’s no money… when these motherf—ers are only paying $750 a year in taxes.”

“BTW that is the right word for those who fleece & scam working families,” she continued in her tweet, referring to Dillon’s “f—ers” remark.

Ocasio-Cortez then followed up in a separate tweet, saying that Rubio should “Take that energy to supporting retroactive [unemployment insurance] & checks.”

Tired of these people encouraging, ignoring, and excusing their own abusive behavior for years to then turn around and act like the biggest coddled babies in the world.

People are hungry and this is what you’re mad about. Take that energy to supporting retroactive UI & checks

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 17, 2020

Rubio hit back later Thursday, telling the liberal firebrand that “the right word for those who fleece & scam working families is actually ‘socialist.’ “

BTW, the right word for those who fleece & scam working families is actually “socialist” https://t.co/swg9GMu7Rf

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 17, 2020

Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield defended Dillon’s “spicy language” on Wednesday, arguing the point she was making was “spot on.”

“So @jomalleydillon would be the first to tell you her mom doesn’t approve of the spicy language, but I would be the first to tell you that the point she was making in this conversation with @GlennonDoyle is spot on: unity and healing are possible — and we can get things done,” she wrote in a tweet.

Still, other Republicans continued to blast the remark Thursday.

“She can try to walk back, but this says volumes about her boss who calls for ‘unity’ while shouting that we are ‘assaulting democracy:’ They think we are deplorable, irredeemable ‘F***ers’. SICK,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted from her personal account.