Ocasio-Cortez was seen conversing with the congressmen during a chaotic session that saw Representative Kevin McCarthy failing to become speaker of the newly GOP-controlled House. Gaetz and Gosar were among around 20 Republicans who voted against McCarthy on three ballots before the chamber adjourned.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the far-right Republicans who is backing McCarthy’s bid, later expressed concerns on Twitter about Ocasio-Cortez speaking with her GOP colleagues, saying “they never talk to her.” Others urged lip-readers to decipher inaudible video clips of the discussions.
Ocasio-Cortez later told multiple reporters that her discussion with Gaetz concerned McCarthy allegedly warning Republican holdouts that he would engineer a deal for Democrats to vote “present” on future ballots, which would lower the threshold of votes required for him to become speaker.
Republicans hold a narrow 222-212 majority in the new House, with the fate of one seat pending a special election next month following the November death of Virginia Democrat Donald McEachin.
“McCarthy was suggesting he could get Dems to walk away to lower his threshold,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept. “And I fact checked and said absolutely not.”
Ocasio-Cortez made similar comments to National Review.
When contacted by Newsweek, a spokesperson for Gaetz declined comment.
Ocasio-Cortez was less outspoken about her conversation with Gosar, who was censured by the House in November 2021 after sharing on social media a doctored animation showing the progressive congresswoman being killed.
“So then I says ‘The combustion engine was actually a miracle of engineering that people take for granted today…’” Gosar jokingly tweeted on Tuesday alongside an image of himself and Ocasio-Cortez smiling during their exchange.
According to The Intercept, Gosar and Ocasio-Cortez were discussing adjourning the House. The chamber did adjourn a short time later.
Through the first three rounds of voting on Tuesday, Democrats were united in supporting their new House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
All but 19 Republicans voted for McCarthy on the first ballot, while 20 voted against him on the third ballot.
The dissenting Republicans all voted for Representative Jim Jordan on the third ballot. Jordan is not running for speaker and voted for McCarthy on all three ballots, having nominated him for the job earlier in the day.
Some Democrats have delighted in the Republican disarray and mocked McCarthy for his failure to secure the required votes, with Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin calling it a “once-in-a-century humiliation” in a tweet.
Democratic Representative Ted Lieu tweeted a photo of himself holding a bag of popcorn outside his office on Tuesday morning, captioning the image “About to go to the House Floor.”
Newsweek has reached out to the offices of Ocasio-Cortez and Gosar for comment.
