Ocasio-Cortez receives death threats, campaign office vandalized, aide says
Ocasio-Cortez campaign manager Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben said the New York Democrat has also has faced death threats in recent days.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed to The Hill that officers responded to a 911 call regarding a 'criminal mischief incident' at the campaign office early Monday morning.
'Upon arrival, officers observed the facade of the location defaced with red paint. There are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing,' an NYPD spokesperson said.
Hidalgo-Wohlleben wrote on social platform X later Monday that the lawmaker's team was in the process of cleaning the mess.
'Our office is a hub in the community and we want it to be a safe space for all of our neighbors,' he wrote. 'In the past few days, we also have received multiple threats on the Congresswoman's life and we are treating this seriously with our security partners to make sure she, our staff, and volunteers are safe.'
The Hill has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez's campaign office and Congressional office for additional details.
Photos of the vandalism posted online show red paint splashed across the office facade and a sign hung that reads: 'AOC funds genocide in Gaza.'
An anti-Israel group known as the 'Boogie Down Liberation Front' claimed responsibility for the vandalism, according to an X post that included a photo of the offenders in action.
Ocasio-Cortez has not directly responded to the vandalism or threats, but she has pushed back on claims about her votes on defense spending.
'Google is free. If you're saying I voted for military funding, you are lying,' she wrote Monday on X. 'Drag me for my positions all you want, but lying about them doesn't make you part of the 'left.''
'If you believe neo-nazis are welcome and operating in good faith, you can have them!' she added.
Ocasio-Cortez recently voted against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)'s effort to cut U.S. funding for Israel's missile defense system, while other progressives in 'The Squad' — Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — voted for it. The amendment was quashed in a 422-6 vote.
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