Latest news with #OcasioCortez
Telegraph
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
AOC broke ethics rules with ‘tax the rich' Met Gala gown
It found she had failed 'to fully comply with the gift rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event'. She was ordered to pay back the rest, with the report stating: 'Based on the above, the committee finds that it would be appropriate for representative Ocasio-Cortez to remit payment of an additional $2,733.28 for the goods that she received in connection with her attendance at the 2021 Met Gala to comply with the gift rule.' The full market rent for the outfit, a Brother Vellies couture dress designed by Aurora James, shoes, a floral hairpiece and a handbag, was $3,724.04. However, the committee found no evidence she had 'intentionally underpaid' for any of the services, but it said vendors did drop prices after the congresswoman's staff said payments would be delayed. It also criticised Ms Ocasio-Cortez for relying on vendors, who hoped to gain publicity from her appearance in their outfits, to ensure she kept within the rules. She was invited to the Gala by Anna Wintour, the British-born head of Vogue, who commissioned the designers to 'dress AOC'. Problems over hairdressing bill The couple also received free admission to the $35,000-a-ticket event, with the congresswoman taking care to ensure that the invitation was permissible. 'Representative Ocasio-Cortez's counsel thus correctly understood that she could accept the offer of free admission to the event, along with food and beverage, because the invitation was extended by the Met as the charitable sponsor of the event,' the report said. 'Her staff explicitly told vendors prior to the Met Gala that the Congresswoman would be paying for many of the benefits provided personally,' it added. Problems also arose over the $477.73 hairdressing bill, with the congresswoman's staff not responding to requests for payment. The bill was finally paid in full by Ms Ocasio-Cortez on Feb 23 2022. Committee members concluded she failed to 'exercise proper oversight' over her staff. While she failed to comply with the rules, the committee did not find that the violations were 'knowing and wilful'. With Ms Ocasio-Cortez paying the outstanding amount, the committee considered the matter 'closed'. The Telegraph has approached Ms Ocasio-Cortez for comment.
Fox News
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Border agent ambush shows Dems need to 'tone down rhetoric,' White House says, pushing AOC to meet with ICE
The White House is calling on Democrats in Congress to ramp down heated language toward U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and agents for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), after a gunman opened fire upon Border Patrol agents at an annex facility in McAllen, Texas, Monday. The Department of Homeland Security reported earlier in July that assaults against ICE officers and other federal immigration agents have risen nearly 700% in comparison to 2024. Specifically, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., should set up a meeting with ICE and CBP agents. "We certainly call on Democrats to tone down their rhetoric against ICE and Border Patrol agents, who, again, are everyday men and women. I would encourage AOC and other Democrats to actually meet with the United States Border Patrol," Leavitt told reporters on Monday. "These are honorable Americans who are just simply trying to do their job to enforce the law. They go home to their families every night, just like we all do, and they deserve respect and dignity for trying to enforce our nation's immigration laws and to remove public safety threats from our communities." A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
CBC
04-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Freed Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil seizes new public platform amid efforts to deport him
U.S. President Donald Trump's fight with elite American universities was only a few days old when federal immigration agents arrested Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil at his Columbia University apartment building in New York in March. Over the more than three months he was held at a jail for immigrants in rural Louisiana, the Trump administration escalated its battle. It arrested other foreign pro-Palestinian students and revoked billions of dollars in research grants to Columbia, Harvard and other private schools whose campuses were roiled by the pro-Palestinian student protest movement, in which Khalil was a prominent figure. "I absolutely don't regret standing up against a genocide," Khalil, 30, said in an interview at his Manhattan apartment, less than two weeks after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered him released on bail while he challenges the effort to revoke his lawful U.S. permanent residency green card and deport him. "I don't regret standing up for what's right, which is opposing war, which is calling for the end of violence." He believes the government is trying to silence him, but has instead given him a bigger platform. Returning to New York after his release, Khalil was welcomed at the airport by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a political foe of Trump; supporters waved Palestinian flags as he reunited with his wife and infant son, whose birth he missed in jail. Two days later, he was the star of a rally on the steps of a cathedral near Columbia's Manhattan campus, castigating the university's leaders. Last week, he appeared before cheering crowds alongside Zohran Mamdani, the pro-Palestinian state lawmaker who won June's Democratic primary ahead of New York City's 2025 mayoral election. "I did not choose to be in this position: ICE did," Khalil said, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who arrested him. "And this, of course, had a great impact on my life. I'm still honestly trying to contemplate my new reality." He missed his May graduation ceremony and emerged from jail unemployed. An international charity withdrew its offer of a job as a policy adviser, he said. The government could win its appeal and jail him again, so Khalil said his priority is spending as much time as possible with his son and wife, a dentist. Khalil was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria; his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, is a U.S. citizen and he became a lawful permanent resident last year. Moving to New York in 2022 as a graduate student, he became one of the main student negotiators between Columbia's administration and the protesters, who set up tent encampments on a campus lawn as they demanded that Columbia end investments of its $14 billion endowment in weapons makers and other companies supporting Israel's military. Khalil is not charged with any crime, but the U.S. government has invoked an obscure immigration statute to argue that Khalil and several other international pro-Palestinian students must be deported because their "otherwise lawful" speech could harm U.S. foreign policy interests. The federal judge overseeing the case has ruled that the Trump administration's main rationale for deporting Khalil is likely an unconstitutional violation of free-speech rights. The government is appealing. WATCH | Breaking down Trump's targeted attacks against Harvard: How to destroy Harvard University | About That 1 month ago Duration 15:13 When Harvard University dug in its heels against threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, his administration doubled down with a laundry list of demands, including access to private student records and changes to who can even attend the school. Andrew Chang breaks down Trump's targeted attacks against the nation's oldest university and what this battle means for the partnership between government and higher education. "This is not about 'free speech,'" Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, wrote in response to queries. "This is about individuals who don't have a right to be in the United States siding with Hamas terrorists and organizing group protests that made college campuses unsafe and harassed Jewish students." Urges universities to heed their students Khalil condemned antisemitism and called Jewish students an "integral part" of the protest movement. He said the government was using antisemitism as a pretext to reshape American higher education, which Trump, a Republican, has said is captured by anti-American, Marxist and "radical left" ideologies. The Trump administration has told Columbia and other universities that federal grant money, mostly for biomedical research, will not be restored unless the government has greater oversight of who they admit and hire and what they teach, calling for greater "intellectual diversity." Unlike Harvard, Columbia has not challenged the legality of the government's sudden grant revocations, and agreed to at least some of the Trump administration's demands to tighten rules around protests as a precondition of negotiations over resuming funding. Khalil called Columbia's response heartbreaking. "Columbia basically gave the institution to the Trump administration, let the administration intervene in every single detail on how higher education institutions should be run," he said. Columbia's administration has said preserving the university's academic autonomy is a "red line" as negotiations continue. Columbia spokesperson Virginia Lam Abrams said university leaders "strongly dispute" Khalil's characterization. "Columbia University recognizes the right for students, including Mr. Khalil, to speak out on issues that they deeply believe in," she said in a statement. "But it is also critical for the university to uphold its rules and policies to ensure that every member of our community can participate in a campus community free from discrimination and harassment." Khalil urged Columbia and other universities targeted by Trump to heed their students. "The students presented a clear plan on how this campus can follow human rights, can follow international law, can be inclusive to all students, where everyone feels equal regardless of where they stand on issues," he said. "They prefer to capitulate to political pressure rather than listening to the students."
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
AOC denounces Trump budget bill as ‘deal with the devil' in fiery speech
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denounced President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill as a 'scam' and a 'deal with the devil' in a fiery speech Wednesday on the House floor. As the sprawling bill inches toward passage, Ocasio-Cortez accused Trump of lying about the measure that cuts Medicaid and food stamps for the poor while slashing taxes on tips and providing big breaks for the wealthy and large corporations. 'It doesn't take a smart person to know if you are being lied to,' Ocasio-Cortez, D-14th, said. 'President Trump, you're either being lied to or you are lying to the American people.' The progressive firebrand drew cheers from fellow Democrats as she accused GOP lawmakers of engineering 'the largest and greatest loss of health care in American history.' She said 17 million would lose coverage due to the bill's harsh cuts, although nonpartisan watchdog groups have put the number at 11 million. Ocasio-Cortez, a former waitress, called Trump's move to end the tax on tips 'a scam' and pointed out that the Senate imposed a $25,000 cap on the benefit, which she predicted would be canceled out by cuts in health care and SNAP food assistance. 'You do the math.' she said. 'Is that worth it to you?' The speech came as Republicans, who hold a 220-to-212 edge in the House of Representatives, were moving through some procedural steps before the bill comes up for a final vote. Some Republican lawmakers vowed to vote against the bill, but most observers believe enough will cave to Trump to pass it despite misgivings. Democrats can rail against the bill but cannot block it unless at least four Republicans break ranks. Ocasio-Cortez called Republicans hypocrites for claiming to stand up for working people. 'This bill is a deal with the devil,' she said, ending the speech by addressing GOP colleagues directly. 'You should be ashamed.' _____
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Draws On Bartending Experience To Slam Trump's Bill
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) delivered on Wednesday a fiery breakdown of how she believes President Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill would actually hurt service workers, drawing on her past experience as a bartender and server. She argued that the way a popular campaign proposal, 'no tax on tips,' was written in the bill meant it would have a small impact for most tipped service industry workers — and potentially come at the expense of food assistance, health care and other essential government benefits. The congresswoman spoke for around two minutes on the House floor during a period of debate on the legislation. She began by responding to an insult from Trump. 'He says he doesn't think I'm too much of a smart person,' she said. 'It doesn't take a smart person to know if you're being lied to. President Trump, you're either being lied to, or you're lying to the American people because this bill represents — in the text of this bill — the largest and greatest loss of health care in American history.' Then she pivoted: 'On this point, on tax on tips, as one of the only people in this body who has lived off of tips, I want to tell you a little bit about the scam of that text, a little bit of the fine print there,' she said. Ocasio-Cortez worked at a Manhattan restaurant to help her family make ends meet before winning her seat in 2018. She continued: 'The cap on that is $25,000 while you're jacking up taxes on people who make less than $50,000 across the United States, while taking away their SNAP, while taking away their Medicaid, while kicking them off of the ACA [Affordable Care Act] and their health care extensions. So if you're at home, and you're living off tips, you do the math. Is that worth it to you? Losing all your health care, not being able to feed your babies, not being able to put a diaper on their bottom, in exchange for what?' An analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found that the bill would likely leave some 16 million Americans uninsured. 'This bill is a deal with the devil,' Ocasio-Cortez said. 'It explodes our national debt. It militarizes our entire economy. And it strips away health care and the basic dignity of the American people for what? To give Elon Musk a tax break?' 'You should be ashamed,' Ocasio-Cortez told her Republican colleagues before walking away from the podium, inspiring a rebuke from House Speaker Pro Tempore Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) about avoiding personal attacks. An analysis by The New York Times based on an earlier version of the bill — which did not set a cap — found that the Republicans' 'no tax on tips' plan would benefit a narrower category of workers than the slogan implies. The $25,000 limit on the amount of tips that workers can claim in their deductions would shrink the benefits of the policy further. The broad idea remains popular though, both with elected officials and voters. With the Senate having very narrowly passed a different version of the 'big, beautiful bill' on Tuesday, the legislation is now back in the House for possible revisions and approval. Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Draw Massive Crowd In Red State 'Disrespectful Men': AOC Goads Republicans During Heated Medicaid Exchange AOC Says She Won't Seek Top Spot On Oversight Committee
