Content warning: This article contains references to sexual assault
US Democratic politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has shared that she is a survivor of sexual assault, during an emotional video detailing her experiences when rioters violently stormed the US Capitol.
The Congresswoman described being terrified for her life during the January siege in a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday, and doubled down on calls for Republican politicians to be held accountable.
She equated Republican calls to move on from the incident, in which five people died and dozens of police were injured, to other forms of abuse.
“The reason I’m getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on, that it’s not a big deal, that we should forget what’s happened, or even telling us to apologise, these are the same tactics of abusers,” she said.
“And I’m a survivor of sexual assault and I haven’t told many people that in my life. But when we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other.”
A pro-Trump mob swarmed the US Capitol on 6 January, shortly after the then-president delivered an incendiary speech and repeated false claims of an election stolen from him due to widespread voting fraud.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez said she had been harassed by those she identified as Trump fans for days in the lead-up to the riot, and other members of Congress had warned her to be “careful”.
“Everybody knew that something was going to happen,” she said.
The day of the riot, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said she hid behind a bathroom door in her office, fearing for her life as she heard a man yell: “Where is she! Where is she!”
“This was the moment where I thought everything was over,” she said, later adding: “I thought I was going to die.”
The Congresswoman eventually evacuated with a staffer to another building, and scrambled to get into a colleague’s office where she hid for hours.
She said it felt important to share her story from that day because “so many of the people who helped perpetrate and who take responsibility for what happened in the Capitol are trying to tell us all to move on”.
“They’re trying to tell us to forget about what happened, they’re trying to tell us that it wasn’t a big deal … without any accountability, without any truth-telling or without actually confronting the extreme damage, physical harm, loss of life and trauma that was inflicted.”
Several Congressional committees are investigating the security failures behind the attacks.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, known to her fans as AOC, is among the Democrats calling for Republicans who encouraged and repeated Mr Trump’s lie that he had won the 3 November presidential election to resign after the incident.
“We are not safe with people who hold positions of power who are willing to endanger the lives of others if they think it will score them a political point,” she said.
With reporting by Reuters.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
