Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has repeatedly lied or made false statements throughout her career. Despite, graduating cum laude with two bachelor degrees, she has made very inaccurate historical and political claims. Below, I go over the top 5 lies/false statements made by AOC.

LIE #1: AOC claimed that unemployment was low because “everyone has two jobs” and “people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week.”

This is what she said, “Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family.”

This is false on so many levels. Less than 5% of the workforce has a second job, and even less people work 70 to 80 hours a week. According to the BLS, the average employed individual works 34 hours a week.

In addition, the BLS doesn’t even use those stats when determining unemployment.

LIE #2: AOC claimed that the U.S. gave the military an additional $700 billion.

She said, “Just last year we gave the military a $700 billion budget increase, which they didn’t even ask for.”

Even left-wing Politifact fact checked this claim. Here’s what the Politifact article stated, “Congress gave the military a $61 billion increase from fiscal year 2017 to 2018. The total military budget for 2018 was $700 billion. That includes the Department of Defense and elements of other agencies, chiefly Energy Department programs pertaining to nuclear weapons.”

LIE #3: AOC claimed that a new Alabama abortion law would jail mothers who tried to get an abortion.

This is what AOC tweeted, “Alabama lawmakers are making all abortions a felony punishable w [jail time], [including] women victimized by rape+incest……. Of course, no added punishments for rapists. It’s going to [Governor Kay Ivey’s] desk. She will decide the future of women’s rights in Alabama.”

This is absolutely false. The law specifically stated that mothers will not face prosecution, only third party abortionists could face charges for violating the law.

Here’s a section of the bill— “No woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed shall be criminally or civilly liable. Furthermore, no physician confirming the serious health risk to the child’s mother shall be criminally or civilly liable for those actions.”

Despite, the bill being available for everyone to read, AOC still intentionally misrepresented the law.

LIE #4: AOC falsely claimed that Washington D.C. was the first U.S. territory to abolish slavery.

AOC tweeted this— “DC was the 1st territory in the United States to free the enslaved…..It’s where Black Americans fled the tyranny of slavery & towards greater freedom, to DC. Yet today it’s where 2nd class citizenship reigns, and the right to vote is denied…..It’s time to recognize DC statehood.”

This is False. Washington D.C. wasn’t even close to the first territory in the U.S. to free slaves. Washington D.C. was actually one of the last territories to abolish slavery.

Vermont was actually the first U.S. territory to abolish slavery. Vermont abolished slavery in 1777, one year after the Declaration of Independence was signed, and 85 years before Washington D.C.

Fox News stated- “The National Archives – which employs real historians as opposed to politicians who just make stuff up – says that: “Slavery remained legal in the District until April 16, 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act abolishing slavery in the District.” This took place when the Civil War (perhaps you’ve heard of it, Congresswoman?) was well underway.”

LIE #5: AOC claimed that Republicans amended the Constitution to remove FDR from office.

Here’s what she said, “They had to amend the Constitution of the United States to make sure Roosevelt did not get reelected.”

AOC was referring to the passing of the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution.

Here’s what the amendment states, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

The problem is that FDR died in 1945, a full two years prior to the 22nd Amendment being passed (1947). In addition, the 22nd Amendment wasn’t implemented until 1951, a full six years after FDR’s death.

SOURCES

Kessler, G. (2018, August 10). Fact-checking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s media blitz. Washington Post . Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/08/10/fact-checking-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-media-blitz/%3foutputType=amp

Weissmann, J. (2018, July 18). Socialists Will Need to Be 10 Times Smarter Than Republicans to Get Taken Seriously in Washington. Slate. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.google.com/amp/s/slate.com/business/2018/07/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-gaffe-about-the-unemployment-rate-and-working-two-jobs-is-no-big-deal.amp

Jacobson, L. (2019, April 21). US politician Ocasio-Cortez: “unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs”. Association of Pensions & Benefits Claimants CIC. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.abcorg.net/item/2746-us-politician-ocasio-cortez-unemployment-is-low-because-everyone-has-two-jobs

Statista Research Department . (2022, September 6). Average U.S. working week: August 2022. Statista. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/215643/average-weekly-working-hours-of-all-employees-in-the-us-by-month/

Mathur, A. (2019, August 4). Are most people actually working two or three jobs? not really. Forbes. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/aparnamathur/2019/08/04/are-most-people-actually-working-two-or-three-jobs-not-really/amp/

Tobias , M. (2018, August 1). Politifact – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez overplays defense budget increase. Politifact. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/aug/01/alexandria-ocasio-cortez/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-defense-budget/

Department of Defense (DOD) releases Fiscal Year 2017 president’s budget proposal. U.S. Department of Defense. (2016, February 9). Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/652687/department-of-defense-dod-releases-fiscal-year-2017-presidents-budget-proposal/

2018 defense budget. Military Benefits. (2021, March 23). Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://militarybenefits.info/2018-defense-budget-overview/

Prestigiacomo, A. (2019, May 15). AOC gets called out over abortion law lie. her excuse is pathetic. The Daily Wire. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-gets-called-out-over-abortion-law-lie-her-amanda-prestigiacomo

Mikelionis, L. (2019, May 16). AOC blames Twitter, readers after called out for tweets about Alabama pro-life law. Fox News. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ocasio-cortez-blames-twitter-space-limits-after-called-out-for-spreading-misinformation-about-alabamas-pro-life-law

Downs, R. (2019, May 17). Media mislead about bills jailing women for Abortion. Newsbusters. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/rebecca-downs/2019/05/17/media-mislead-about-bills-jailing-women-abortion

Davis, W. (2019, September 20). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez falsely claims D.C. was the first U.S. territory to abolish slavery. The Daily Caller. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://dailycaller.com/2019/09/20/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-washington-d-c/

Golden, C. D. (2019, September 20). AOC falsely claims DC was 1st US territory to abolish slavery. she’s off by 75 Years & hundreds of miles. The Western Journal. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.westernjournal.com/aoc-falsely-claims-dc-1st-us-territory-abolish-slavery-off-75-years-hundreds-miles/

Haskins, J. (2019, September 21). Justin Haskins: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proves again she has no idea what she is talking about. Fox News. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/justin-haskins-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-proves-again-she-has-no-idea-what-she-is-talking-about

FOX News Network. (2019, March 31). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez falsely claims Republicans amended constitution to kick FDR out of office. Fox News. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-falsely-claims-republicans-amended-constitution-to-kick-fdr-out-of-office

Associated Newspapers. (2019, April 1). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims Republicans amended the Constitution to prevent FDR being re-elected. Daily Mail Online. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6871781/amp/Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez-claims-Republicans-amended-Constitution-prevent-FDR-elected.html