Ocasio-Cortez says she feared for her life in Capitol siege

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she and other elected officials “narrowly escaped death" last week when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed into the U.S. Capitol, noting that she had additional concerns her own colleagues would put her at risk.

In an Instagram Live video on Tuesday night, the Democrat said she personally had an encounter, the details of which she said she couldn't disclose due to security concerns, “where I thought I was going to die.”

She said there was “a sense that something was wrong from the inside" and that she remained fearful even after she was taken to a secure location with other elected officials.

Ocasio-Cortez, who is Hispanic, noted that her fears were heightened because there were white supremacists and other extremists taking part in the mostly white mob.

The second-term representative, whose New York district covers part of Queens and the Bronx, is among the most high-profile elected officials on the political left and a lightning rod for the right and extreme right.

She had strong condemnation for Trump for inciting the riots, as well as members of his administration who have not invoked the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, as well as those who voted to overturn the election results.

Ocasio-Cortez said those who have resigned in the wake of Wednesday were “cowards."

“They think that resigning is going to clean that blood of their hands," she said. “It is always on them."