Pelosi After AOC Meeting: There Was No 'Hatchet' to Bury

House speaker says she and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez had a 'positive' meeting Friday on 'range of issues'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 26, 2019 12:05 PM CDT
What Feud? It's All Smiles After Pelosi, AOC Meeting
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.   (Nancy Pelosi, Twitter)

The House of Representatives is about to take a six-week recess, but one notable meeting took place Friday that provoked some "palace intrigue," per Politico. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent 30 minutes behind closed doors with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, after weeks of what seemed to be a tense public tiff over criticisms from AOC and progressive Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. Those jabs at Pelosi came after the speaker sided with moderate Dems in sending a $4.6 billion border bill to the House floor without added protections for child migrants; Pelosi also made remarks in the New York Times that seemed to irk the four-member "Squad." Pelosi pushed back in a private meeting Wednesday, telling fellow Dems to not "undermine the strength of anyone in our caucus." At Friday's meeting with Ocasio-Cortez, however, those tensions appeared to dissipate.

"We covered a range of issues in our conversation particular to the congresswoman's committees," Pelosi said. "I don't think we have that many differences." Pelosi tweeted a photo of her and AOC after their meeting, smiling side by side. "Today, Congresswoman @RepAOC and I sat down to discuss working together to meet the needs of our districts and our country, fairness in our economy and diversity in our country," Pelosi elaborated. A CBS News reporter pushed Pelosi after the meeting on whether she and Ocasio-Cortez had buried the hatchet, to which Pelosi replied, "There wasn't any hatchet," adding, "In a family you have your differences, but you're still a family." She also noted, "We have been engaged in differences in opinion in our caucus and that is a good thing." AOC had noted before the meeting that it was "nothing too climactic" and just to "get on the same page," per Fox News. (More Nancy Pelosi stories.)

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