Ocasio-Cortez says Trump win would result in ‘grave impacts’ on democracy

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) issued a stark warning Tuesday about a second term for former President Trump, arguing it would result in “grave impacts” on democracy. 

“If Donald Trump is elected president of the United States, we do not know if there would be a verifiable next election that has integrity,” Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday in an interview on CNN. “He already tried … what we saw on Jan. 6, he tried to overturn the results of the presidential election by force by inciting a riot.” 

“I think we need to be very, very realistic about the grave impact of a Donald Trump election,” she added. “It is not a game. We need to protect our democracy and, ideally, it’s going to be on progressive values.”

She later pointed to the former president’s ongoing legal battles, in which he faces 91 felony counts across four federal and state indictments, two of which center on his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments came as part of a conversation with CNN anchor Jake Tapper about a report issued last week about President Biden by special counsel Robert Hur — which included some scathing assessments of the president’s age and mental acuity. 

The report was centered on the investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents after leaving office as vice president, but was largely overshadowed by the picture Hur painted of him in which he described him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” 

Pressed over if she should have any concerns over Biden’s age or whether he should be the nominee, Ocasio-Cortez pointed to just the few years in between the 81-year-old president and Trump, the GOP front-runner, who is 77. 

“I think right now, when it comes to the president’s age, folks are talking about how he’s 81, but we have to look at firstly, Donald Trump who is around the same age. … He’s 77 years old. They could have gone to high school together,” she said. 

The New York progressive defended Biden’s record, telling Tapper, “And what I know is who I’m going to choose is going to be one of the most successful presidents in modern American history,” while applauding the Biden administration’s work on the Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan.

Her remarks about the president follow comments made last month in which she called on the Democratic Party to “do more” to tout its accomplishments and its “vision” for the nation. 

Asked by NBC’s “Meet the Press,” anchor Kristen Welker if the Biden team has reached out to her to help his reelection bid, she said she has been in contact with the administration throughout the president’s term.

She said at the time she is “committed” to ensuring policy movements “are not stamped out with a Trump presidency.”