Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Nathan Howard/Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was spotted chatting with Matt Gaetz on the House floor on Tuesday.
- She was also seen talking to Paul Gosar, who in 2021 posted an anime clip of himself killing her.
- Ocasio-Cortez told reporters their conversations were regarding the speakership vote.
In a rare display on Tuesday, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was spotted speaking with the unlikeliest of her congressional colleagues: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar.
Ocasio-Cortez was seen on Tuesday speaking to Gaetz briefly on the floor of Congress. The conversation between the two came as a surprise, considering how they have clashed and how ideologically different the progressive congresswoman and the House Freedom Caucus congressman are.
—The Recount (@therecount) January 3, 2023
Speaking to The Intercept, Ocasio-Cortez said Gaetz told her that House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy — who is currently vying for the role of House Speaker — is trying to convince the GOP he can cut a deal with the Democratic Party to get the job.
In response, Ocasio-Cortez says she told Gaetz that the Democrats will not help McCarthy out. McCarthy failed to get the votes he needed to secure the speakership on three separate ballots on Tuesday. And by the third vote, the number of people voting against him had gone up.
"McCarthy was suggesting he could get Dems to walk away to lower his threshold," Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept. "And I fact-checked and said absolutely not."
In another strange turn of events, Ocasio-Cortez was also seen sitting next to Gosar and talking to him, nodding, and smiling.
—The Recount (@therecount) January 3, 2023
Ocasio-Cortez told Semafor on Tuesday that Gosar, too, had approached her to ask if the Democrats were willing to help McCarthy secure the speakership by exiting the chamber and lowering the vote threshold. Ocasio-Cortez added to Semafor that she told Gosar the same thing she told Gaetz: that her party would not be helping McCarthy out.
ABC reporter Gabe Ferris also spoke to Ocasio-Cortez about the conversation between her and Gosar. The New York congresswoman told Ferris she would "never" walk away to clear the path for McCarthy, and that she would back Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The congresswoman has had a storied history with Gosar. In November 2021, he posted a violent anime clip depicting himself killing her. The video prompted Ocasio-Cortez to call Gosar a "creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups" who shared a "fantasy video" of himself killing her. That month, Gosar was stripped of his committee positions by a Democratic-led Congress. He then refused to apologize for posting the video, comparing his censure to Alexander Hamilton's.
Ocasio-Cortez told Semafor on Tuesday that Gosar did not apologize for the video during their conversation on Tuesday.
For his part, Gosar joked about the exchange, posting a screenshot of him and Ocasio-Cortez smiling during their conversation.
"So then I says 'The combustion engine was actually a miracle of engineering that people take for granted today...'" Gosar tweeted.
—Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) January 3, 2023
AOC's Gaetz-Gosar huddle sparks intrigue and ire
Ocasio-Cortez's conversations with Gaetz and Gosar sparked intrigue. The liberal Twitter account Meidas Touch tweeted on Tuesday that someone should get a lip reader to decipher the conversation between Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez.
Meanwhile, the conversations attracted the ire of right-wing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has broken with her House Freedom Caucus and supported McCarthy's speakership bid.
Rebuking both Gosar and Gaetz, Greene tweeted on Tuesday that "making plans with Democrats is not what any Republican should be doing." Greene also expressed concern that Gaetz, Gosar, and Ocasio-Cortez had found something in common in not supporting McCarthy, tweeting on Tuesday: "First Gaetz and Good, now Gosar. They never talk to her."
Representatives for Gaetz, Gosar, Greene, and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
Meanwhile, the House failed to elect a speaker on Tuesday after right-wing Republicans mutinied against McCarthy and refused to back his speakership bid. This is the first time in a century that the House has not picked a speaker on the first vote.
Voting is now expected to continue on Wednesday.
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