Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ted Cruz found themselves in a strange position Thursday: common ground, at least in principle, on a financial issue.
But Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wasn’t exactly happy to hear from Cruz (R-Texas).
Egged on by posters on Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets page, individual investors have pushed stock prices for companies like video game retailer GameStop, AMC theaters and BlackBerry sky high. The soaring stock prices have imperiled hedge funds with bets against the companies.
“In light of recent volatility,” trading app Robinhood announced Thursday it was restricting trading of stocks in Gamestop, AMC and Blackberry and other companies targeted by Reddit traders, sparking outrage on social media.
Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, called Robinhood’s move “unacceptable” in a tweet Thursday, saying she’d support a hearing “if necessary.”
“We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit,” she wrote in the tweet.
Cruz, a Texas Republican who objected to the certification of the Electoral College votes after the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riots, quoted Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet, writing that he “fully” agreed. Ocasio-Cortez replied by writing that “I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.”
Cruz responded, saying “there’s a lot of partisan anger and rage on the Democratic side,” according to a Roll Call reporter.
“It’s not healthy for our country. It’s certainly not conducive of healing or unity, but everyone has to decide how they want to interact with others,” Cruz said.
Ocasio-Cortez fired back on Twitter.
“Oh, there’s anger? Now why would there be anger that Cruz amplified known lies about our election that fueled an insurrection that cost ppl’s lives? What does he think the logical response to his lies should be? A hug? Maybe there’s anger bc his actions deserve accountability,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
The New York Democrat has suggested Cruz — who Democrats have accused in an ethics complaint of giving credibility to former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud — played a part in inciting the insurrection. Cruz and fellow Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), both named in the ethics complaint, have denied any culpability in the riot.
Federal prosecutors said last weekend that a Texas man who has been charged with illegally storming the Capitol threatened to kill Ocasio-Cortez, who has said that death threats are “a normal part of [her] existence.”