In a since-deleted viral tweet, Florida congressional candidate Jessi Melton shared a screenshot that appeared to depict a tweet from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling to keep the economy shut down so as to hinder Donald Trump’s re-election chances.
Though she has deleted her original tweet, Melton doubled down, saying, “We don't know for sure if she really tweeted it."
We do, however, know for sure that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t tweet it. As a popular political figure, Ocasio-Cortez’s social media pages are frequently saved in the internet archive the Wayback Machine. Her Twitter profile was archived on May 21, and does not show the tweet. Additionally, ProPublica maintains a database that archives deleted tweets from politicians. The alleged tweet from Ocasio-Cortez does not appear on her page in the database.
Melton’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.
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Why do we pay attention to AOC? Why do so many right wing media (TD not included), pay attention to an outlier in her party? She is young, with strong opinions, but she is hardly main stream Democratic. Her role these days is not to represent the Democratic Party overall, but to present younger people’s views and wishes for the future. Her role is to make the establishment and older people at least consider about younger people’s concerns.
To right wing media: Let AOC speak with younger Americans. And to right wing America: Find ways to reach better solutions for all younger Americans.
Never let a little thing like the truth stop you from scoring political points, am I right or am I right?