Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said in a Sunday post on TikTok that she is skipping President-elect Trump’s inauguration.
“All these journalists are like, ‘Congresswoman, are you going to the inauguration? Congresswoman, are you going to the inauguration? Are you going to the inauguration?” Ocasio-Cortez said in her TikTok video.
“Let me make myself clear,” she added. “I don’t celebrate rapists. So no, I’m not going to the inauguration tomorrow.”
It is unclear what Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most high-profile House Democrats and someone mentioned as a future presidential candidate, is specifically referring to with her public comments.
It could be a rererence to a jury finding from May 2023 that, in the 1990s, the president-elect sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll. The jury, however, did not find Trump liable for rape under New York law.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment on Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks.
A few other top Democrats, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), are also skipping the inauguration.
But a number of Democrats have shown up or played a part in the proceedings.
Both President Biden and Vice President Harris arrived Monday for the president-elect’s swearing-in, alongside other figures including former President Obama, former President George W. Bush and former President Clinton.
Biden and former first lady Jill Biden greeted Trump and former first lady Melania Trump at the White House. Harris traveled from the White House to the Capitol for the inauguration with Vice President J.D. Vance.
Trump is set to promise a “new era of national success” in his inaugural address, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country,” a part of the inaugural address, which the Journal first obtained, reads.
