{"id":18691,"date":"2021-02-02T17:53:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T17:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=52e5d9cb0e3e4973a72077c4b43c127d"},"modified":"2021-02-02T17:53:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T17:53:00","slug":"aoc-says-she-went-into-hiding-prior-to-january-6-fearing-for-her-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/02\/aoc-says-she-went-into-hiding-prior-to-january-6-fearing-for-her-life\/","title":{"rendered":"AOC Says She Went Into Hiding Prior to January 6, Fearing for Her Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Rep.<\/a>

On Monday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recalled her harrowing experience on the day of the Capitol breach on a video broadcast on Instagram Live. She also said she felt that not only was her life under threat on January 6, but also days prior to the incident. <\/span><\/p>\n

At around 1 pm on January 6, Ocasio-Cortez was in her office when she heard banging at her office door. \u201cI hear these huge violent bangs on my door and then every door going into my office,\u201d <\/span>she said<\/span><\/a>. \u201cJust \u2018bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,\u2019 like someone was trying to break the door down.\u201d She ran into the bathroom in her office and closed the door to hide. <\/span><\/p>\n

From there, she heard yelling. \u201cI just hear \u2018where is she? Where is she?\u2019 And this was the moment where I thought everything was over,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought I was going to die.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really just felt like, if this is the plan for me, then people will be able to take it from here. I had a lot of thoughts, but that was the thought that I had about you all,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt that if this was the journey that my life was taking, that I felt that things were going to be okay, and that I had fulfilled my purpose.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

It turned out to be a Capitol Police officer and not someone who had broken in, but Ocasio-Cortez still felt unsafe. The officer, she said, was hostile toward her and her legislative director who was in the office with her at the time. He did not identify himself, was alone and looking at her \u201cwith a tremendous amount of anger and hostility.\u201d she said. Despite the fact that the police officer was supposedly there to help protect her, the situation felt wrong, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the fact, she says that her legislative director told her, \u201cI didn\u2019t know if he was there to help us or hurt us either.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They ran to a building that the officer told them to go to, but he didn\u2019t specify where within the building, other than the street level of the building. Ocasio-Cortez and her legislative director were in an open hallway and could hear the Trump mob yelling, trying to break into the building. She could hear the \u201chinges cracking,\u201d she said. When she saw Rep. Katie Porter (D-California) walking into her office, she asked Porter if they could shelter together, and Porter let her in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Porter, on Monday, recalled the incident on <\/span>MSNBC<\/span><\/i>. \u201cI’m a mom. I’m calm. I\u2019ve got everything here we need. We can live for like a month in this office,\u201d <\/span>she told Ocasio-Cortez<\/span><\/a>. \u201cAnd [Ocasio-Cortez] said, ‘I just hope I get to be a mom. I hope I don\u2019t die today.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As staffers barricaded the door, the two women found workout clothes in a staffer\u2019s bag to change into as Ocasio-Cortez was wearing heels and workwear. The two congresswomen remained there for five hours. Later, after the House certified the results of the Electoral College, Ocasio-Cortez and Porter went to Rep. Ayanna Pressley\u2019s office to decompress, and that\u2019s where she began to process the trauma of the incident, with Pressley\u2019s help, said Ocasio-Cortez.<\/span><\/p>\n

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View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A post shared by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n