Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused Vice President JD Vance of hypocrisy in his free speech crusade, pointing to obvious contradictions within his own administration.
“You lied to the world in Munich,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X, tagging Vance. “If this administration believed in free speech as you claimed, its leaders wouldn’t be threatening members of Congress with criminal investigations for educating the public of their Constitutional rights.”
“Look in the mirror,” she added.
The Democrat shared a screengrab from an article about her dispute with Tom Homan, Donald Trump’s border czar.
Homan has been up in arms because Ocasio-Cortez recently hosted a “know your rights” seminar for constituents who could be caught up in Trump’s mass deportation plans.
Legal immigrants and undocumented people alike have rights under the U.S. Constitution and are entitled to know them. But in Homan’s view, Ocasio-Cortez was up to something nefarious.
The border czar has repeatedly suggested she could face prosecution for her actions, and said he’s raised the issue with the Justice Department.
The irony is stark, when just last week, Vance lectured European leaders about free speech, accusing allies of censorship. The speech at the Munich Security Conference drew swift backlash in Europe and reportedly left many onlookers at the event stunned.
Homan’s attacks on Ocasio-Cortez are not the only example of the administration’s contradictions on freedom of speech.
Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office titled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” It stated that “government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.”
Yet in the weeks since, the Trump administration has taken multiple actions at odds with that messaging, moving forward with efforts to silence those it disagrees with, including climate experts, journalists, members of the LGBTQ community and health officials.
It has ordered federal workers to remove any references to “gender ideology” from email signatures and other materials, prohibiting in some cases the use of the word “gender” at all on forms.
Trump has also barred Associated Press reporters from covering his White House as part of the press pool because the news organization won’t call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” in line with his ordered name change.
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Ocasio-Cortez has expressed no concern over Homan’s threatening remarks.
“Homan has nothing. The Fourth Amendment is clear and I am well within my duties to educate people of their rights,” Ocasio-Cortez posted on X Monday night. “He can threaten me with jail & call names all he wants. He’s got nothing else.”