McEnany, Ocasio-Cortez tangle over ‘Biden adviser’ label

Kayleigh McEnany and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sparred over social media Monday after the White House press secretary referred to the New York Democrat as a “Biden adviser.”

“The fact that you have sitting congresswomen wanting to defund the police … it is extraordinary,” McEnany said at a White House press briefing, mentioning Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ocasio-Cortez by name.

In doing so, McEnany referred to Ocasio-Cortez as a “Biden adviser.”

Ocasio-Cortez, who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the Democratic primary and was named co-chairwoman of a Biden task force on climate change last month, criticized McEnany on Twitter for using that descriptor instead of her congressional title.

“The @PressSec comment is steeped in a long, hurtful, & horrendous history of stripping women of color of titles and diminishing them to ‘the help,'” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted to her more than 8 million followers. “Perhaps she isn’t aware that what she did is mired in racist history. If that is the case, I look forward to her apology tomorrow.”

.@PressSec wouldn’t be the first person to mistake a women of color for having a lower position or title than she does, but Kayleigh – in case you haven’t picked up a newspaper in two years, I’m a Congresswoman. https://t.co/3FRHo7dpTL

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 8, 2020

McEnany responded, also on Twitter, with a transcript of Monday’s press briefing in which she mentioned “Democratic congresswomen” before rattling off a list that included Ocasio-Cortez.

“Read the transcript, Congresswoman,” McEnany tweeted.

Read the transcript, Congresswoman @AOC ⬇️ https://t.co/knvCMmVjWh pic.twitter.com/q6uRWROYNA

— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) June 8, 2020

The back-and-forth comes after Ocasio-Cortez and a handful of other Democratic lawmakers lent their support to the “defund the police” movement. President Trump and his allies have attempted to tie Ocasio-Cortez’s position on police funding to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, whose campaign rejected the defunding efforts on Monday.