Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set to meet

July 26, 2019

Amid reports of tensions causing a rift within the Democratic party between newcomers and political veterans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are set to meet for talks on Friday. The meeting comes after the freshman congresswoman accused the speaker of “singling out newly elected women of color” in the Democratic Party.

Ocasio-Cortez’s comment was the latest shot fired in a war of words between Pelosi and a group of more left-leaning members of the House, known as “the Squad.”

“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Washington Post about Pelosi. “But the persistent singling out. . . it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful. . . the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”

At a recent press conference, Pelosi told reporters she wasn’t interested in talking about the feud. Last week, Ocasio-Cortez told “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King she was “absolutely” interested in sitting down with Pelosi.

Pelosi told reporters before her meeting on Friday, “I’ve had a series of meetings over the last few days, as I always do with my members, and I look forward to this [meeting with AOC].”

This is a developing story.