Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has shifted blame to one of her aides after she came under fire for not paying expenses at the 2021 Met Gala where she wore her infamous "Tax the Rich" gown.
Ocasio-Cortez is now under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which found that she may not have paid for thousands of dollars worth of goods and services – including the $35,000 event ticket, the dress and accessories.
"This is just another example of the pot calling the kettle black," Scherie Murray said of the self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist on "Fox & Friends" Monday.
Murray, a New York City business owner, previously ran against Ocasio-Cortez for Congress, but dropped out during the 2020 GOP primary.
"[AOC] just has a memory failure when it comes to the fact that this wasn't a charity event. She's not allowed to receive these tickets," Murray told host Brian Kilmeade. "Courtesy of Anna Wintour, her and her fiancee attended the Met Gala. She got her hair done. She got a complete wardrobe, including shoes. She got her makeup done and conveniently forgot to pay the bill."
Ocasio-Cortez claimed to be unaware of the unpaid expenses, saying she wasn’t "privy to the invoices." The staff member, who reportedly no longer works for her, took responsibility.
"I think the delay there for me was I didn't have access to her personal credit card at that moment," the staffer told House ethics investigators.
But Murray said the excuse won’t hold up due to the contradictions in the stories.
"First, the staff was tasked to pay. Then the staffer said that he'd never had her credit card. So there is some controversy here, and I'm happy to see that she's being held accountable," Murray said.
Murray then hit at Ocasio-Cortez for her push that ultimately led Amazon to pull out of its plan to build headquarters in New York City in 2019.
"She's known throughout the community as ‘Job Killing AOC.,’" Murray said. "She was uninformed then. She's uninformed now."
Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to again defend her opposition to the Amazon headquarters, saying, "In the end, we were right."
Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of Job Creators Network, also called Ocasio-Cortez a "job killer." The organization has since paid for billboards slamming her for the jobs and wages lost due to Amazon’s pullout.
"I guess she expected an apology from me and my organization when she’s not going to have it," Ortiz said on "Fox & Friends First."
He noted that businesses and residents are fleeing high-tax blue states like New York.
"People are just picking up and leaving because they’re realizing that their leaders are failing them in a big way," Ortiz said.
Murray said Ocasio-Cortez has done a disservice to her constituents.
"It's about time that she focuses on the core issues of her constituency: Housing is on the rise. The cost of food is on the rise," Murray said. "So I think there are more pressing issues that she needs to be concerned about and really advocating for on behalf of her constituency."
