Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Hosts Activist Who Confronted Jeff Flake On Kavanaugh Support At State Of The Union
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has invited Ana Maria Archila, the activist who confronted then-Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) over his support for the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, to be her guest at Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Donald Trump.
According to CNN, Ocasio-Cortez and Archila appeared in a video that was shot at the congresswoman’s office and released Monday, in which Ocasio-Cortez tells Archila that she got the two of them matching pins that say “well-behaved women rarely make history.” The congresswoman added that “we can wear them on Tuesday,” the night the president will address Congress and the nation from the chamber of the House of Representatives.
Archila instantly went viral and hijacked the news cycle when she stopped Flake as he entered an elevator and bent his ear with a heartfelt plea over Flake’s giving Kavanaugh a pass on multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. Archila, who is the co-executive director for the Center for Popular Democracy, later appeared on CNN to explain her actions.
“He needed to understand that women feel incredibly enraged about the thought of our stories, of our experiences of surviving sexual violence being dismissed, laughed at, disbelieved, and I think I just felt a great sense of urgency and I think I saw in his face that he could not escape the emotion,” Archila said.
There is an art to the practice of congress members selecting who they will invite to attend the State of the Union address, with guests being chosen to make a statement about the sitting president or to highlight policy stances. For instance, in the past family members of victims of mass shootings have attended. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has announced he has invited a mother and daughter who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border last year. And Melania Trump has said she is inviting a boy who claims he has been bullied because his last name is Trump, as reported by Inquisitr.
For her part, Ocasio-Cortez announced her invitation to Archila via tweet on Monday, adding that Archila was instrumental in helping to “elevate the stories of survivors everywhere.”
I’m proud to announce that my #StateOfTheUnion guest will be @AnaMariaArchil2.
Ana Maria is the NY14-er who famously jumped into the elevator with Sen. Flake to elevate the stories of survivors everywhere.
She‘s living proof that the courage within all of us can change the ?. https://t.co/OLSeNbP4Z2
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2019
Although Archila’s actions may have slowed the nomination process for Kavanaugh, while the nation and members of Senate Judiciary Committee processed the accusations brought by Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, Flake ultimate voted to place Kavanaugh on the high court.
Originally scheduled for January 29 but delayed due to the government shutdown, President Trump is now scheduled to speak to the nation Tuesday, February 5 at 9 pm ET.
