Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seemed to think she’d finally found proof for her vague claims that President Donald Trump is on the take.
What he said: During a campaign rally in Prescott, Arizona, on Monday, the president described a fundraising call to the CEO of ExxonMobil.
- “I call the head of Exxon. I don’t know, you know, ‘How are you doing? How’s energy coming? When are you doing the exploration? Oh, you need a couple of permits?'” Trump said.
- “I say, ‘You know, I’d love [for] you to send me $25 million for the campaign.’ ‘Absolutely sir, why didn’t you ask? Would you like some more?’”
What she said: Ocasio-Cortez — who has repeatedly accused Trump and the U.S. oil industry of corruption — quickly seized on a Twitter video of the president’s remarks as potential confirmation of her views.
- “So [ExxonMobile] & friends, care to tell us the end of this story? Did you coordinate the $25 million?” she commented.
Just one problem: The congresswoman was so off-base that CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale, a vocal Trump critic, took the president’s side against her.
- In a series of tweets on Monday, Dale pointed out that Trump was actually describing a theoretical call to make the point that he is not corrupted by campaign financing.
“Trump’s point was that it compromises a president to make personal fundraising calls to big CEOs, so he won’t,” Dale said.
Later, Dale called out Ocasio-Cortez along with Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat and other liberals for spreading “nonsense” based on a “bad initial tweet.”
Vox editor Aaron Rupar, after trying to defend himself against Dale, gave up and deleted the misleading post.
But Ocasio-Cortez — who has a history of being wrong and refusing to admit it — has so far left her tweet up without apology or explanation.
Exxon confirmed on Twitter on Monday evening: “We are aware of the President’s statement regarding a hypothetical call with our CEO…and just so we’re all clear, it never happened.”
