U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders addressed the confusion surrounding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s role in Tuesday night’s Democratic National Convention.
Ocasio-Cortez received massive criticism following the virtual political event. Her name began to circulate the media for supporting Sanders instead of Biden.
It all started after NBC News posted a tweet about Ocasio-Cortez’s “speech,” following the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
Posted shortly before 10 p.m. ET Tuesday, the tweet read, “In one of the shortest speeches of the DNC, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez did not endorse Joe Biden: ‘I hereby second the nomination of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont for the president of the United States of America.'”
According to the Associated Press, Ocasio-Cortez reacted to the tweet on Twitter, calling it misleading. She complained that tweet did not acknowledge the purpose of her 90-second monologue, which she referred to as a “routine procedural motion” to applaud Sanders’ runner-up campaign.
NBC failed to address that Ocasio-Cortez mentioned Biden in her brief speech. She also endorsed him by stating that defeating Donald Trump is “a life and death issue” for her constituents.
Early Wednesday morning, after deleting the deceptive tweet, NBC News issued a newly revised tweet and admitted that the original report “should have included more detail on the nomination process.’
Editor's note and clarification (1/2):
This tweet should have included more detail on the nominating process.
We have deleted the tweet to prevent its further spread, but it can be seen here for the record. pic.twitter.com/txXo4CCMOt
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 19, 2020
Despite the correction, the congresswoman was still unpleased. In a more recent tweet, Ocasio-Cortez called for action from the organization. “How are you going to fix the incredible amount of damage and misinformation that you are now responsible for,” she asked. “Because a 1:15 a.m. tweet to slip under the radar after blowing up a false and divisive narrative across networks, isn’t it.”
A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez, Lauren Hitt, said people who lashed out on the representative for the false claims were looking to create division when there was none. Hitt added that Biden and Sanders’ representatives reviewed her speech before Ocasio-Cortez presented it.
“This is what the DNC asked us to do,” Hitt said.
According to FOX News, Sanders also came to Ocasio-Cortez’s defense, blaming the mishap on the DNC and media.
“She was accused of not, you know, saying she supported Biden,” Sanders said.” She was nominating me. She is, of course, supporting Biden. So I think the confusion there rests with, I think, what the DNC was saying, and certainly, media not understanding what happens at a convention.”
During a virtual interview with The Washington Post on Thursday, Sanders stated that the confusion could have been prevented if the committee clearly specified AOC’s role in the convention.
Sanders said the DNC should have explained that AOC was performing the “perfunctory” duty of nominating him instead of being a key speaker. She was not invited to speak on Biden’s behalf, he added.
@BernieSanders is absolutely right here. It should never have been advertised that @AOC was a “convention speaker.” In fact she was not invited by the DNC to speak—she was invited by Bernie to 2nd his nomination.
Additionally, progressives definitely deserve more speaking time. pic.twitter.com/rzOBEXW86X
— JakeypoohLV (@jakeypoohlv) August 20, 2020
“I think what the DNC was saying is: ‘Oh, she’s speaking.’ They didn’t invite her. I think they should have — and that’s a whole other story,” Sanders said. “They should have had more progressive speakers.”
Along with defending Ocasio-Cortez’s brief speech, Sanders criticized the DNC for not giving progressives more speaking time.
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