Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called on Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) to issue a “public apology” to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for promoting a video alleging ballot harvesting after a key source said he was bribed to participate.
“@TulsiGabbard – You, along with everyone else who amplified this fraudulent story, owe Rep. Omar a public apology,” the New York congresswoman tweeted Tuesday.
“Thank you Alex, lack of integrity from these folks is astonishing,” Omar responded.
In the original video, released by right-wing media operation Project Veritas, the brother of newly elected City Councilman Jamal Hassan appeared to claim he participated in fraudulent “harvesting” on Omar’s behalf. The practice, which involves a third party gathering others’ ballots for delivery to election officials, was illegal for more than three ballots in Minnesota until September of this year.
Gabbard cited the video on Twitter, saying it was “further evidence of the need to ban ballot harvesting.”
However, the source, Liban Osman, has since said the group edited the video to remove crucial context and that he was offered $10,000 to say he was harvesting ballots.
The group denied bribing Osman, with chief legal officer Jered Ede calling the claims “wild, and crazy, and baseless accusations.”
The group has frequently been accused of misleadingly editing videos, including its 2009 footage of the community organizing group ACORN.
In 2017, amid allegations of sexual misconduct against then-Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, an operative with the group approached The Washington Post claiming Moore had raped her. When questioned by a reporter about inconsistencies in her story, the woman said she no longer wanted to participate in the story.