Fact Checks

Fact Check by FactCheck.org

‘Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was one of 17 members of Congress arrested at an abortion-rights protest on July 19. But social media posts falsely claim she was “pretending to be arrested.” Capitol Police records show the arrests did occur.’

Read FactCheck’s full story here. 

Fact check by Reuters’ Fact Check 

‘Ocasio-Cortez’s most recent financial disclosure, filed in 2021, shows she had between $3,003 and $45,000 in assets, including her 401k pension plan, and owed at least $15,000 in student debts. Despite this, inaccurate posts circulating on social media and articles have claimed that Ocasio-Cortez has a net worth of $29 million. Most of these cite as their source an article on CAknowledge.com, a website that previously made unsubstantiated claims - debunked by Reuters - about the income of Jen Psaki. The CAknowledge article, entitled “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Net Worth 2022 (Forbes) AOC Assets Salary Cars House,” does not state its source of information, other than the reference to Forbes in the title. While Forbes regularly releases the estimated net worth of high-profile individuals, there is no online record of it doing so for Ocasio-Cortez “Forbes has not reported, nor can we confirm the net worth of Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez at this time,” Jocelyn Swift, director of corporate communications at Forbes told Reuters by email.’

Read Reuters’ fact check in full here.

Fact Check by Ali Swenson, Associated Press

‘Ocasio-Cortez never claimed she was in the main Capitol building, nor did she claim she was face-to-face with a mob of violent rioters. In an Instagram Live video about the riots, she explained that she was in her office in a neighboring building on the Capitol complex, where she experienced a frightening encounter with a Capitol police officer who she said didn’t announce himself. “For you all to know, there’s the Capitol Hill complex,” she told her Instagram followers. “But members of Congress, except for, you know, the speaker and other very, very high ranking ones, don’t actually work in a building with the dome. There’s buildings like right next to the dome, and that’s where our actual offices are.” Ocasio-Cortez’s office is across the street from the main Capitol building, in the Cannon building, which AP reporters on the scene confirmed was evacuated during the riots.The Cannon building is also connected to the Capitol building by a series of tunnels, which allow members of Congress to travel between buildings underground. Those tunnels were mentioned in some earlier communications between militia members charged in the insurrection, suggesting rioters planned to use them to attack members of Congress.’

Read the Associated Press’ full fact check here. 

Fact Check by CNN & Politifact 

‘AOC was photographed, by photojournalists, as she participated in a 2018 protest on a road outside a tent city shelter in Texas that was used to detain migrant children, including some the Trump administration had separated from their parents. The protesters were not permitted to walk right up to the tents at the Tornillo facility. Ocasio-Cortez made the trip to Texas days before she became a national name by defeating a high-ranking incumbent congressman in a Democratic primary in New York. The photos of Ocasio-Cortez looking emotional during the protest did not go viral until a year later, when Texas photojournalist Ivan Pierre Aguirre tweeted some of his shots from his work that day. "To this day I have never spoken to AOC. I didn't talk to her that day or before the photos. I just saw a moment and started to make photos as I am wired to do," Aguirre said in an email to CNN. Aguirre also emphasized that they were not standing beside a "parking lot." Another photojournalist said the same to PolitiFact in 2019.’

Read CNN’s fact check in full here. 

Read Politifact’s fact check in full here. 

Fact Check by Factcheck.org

Context: Debate over a "gas stove ban" by the federal government originated with comments from a commissioner on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission about gas stoves being a “hidden hazard." Days later, the CPSC Chair declared, "I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so."

After conservatives accused AOC of wanting to take away their gas stoves, she responded, as reported by Factcheck.org, "In another tweet, Ocasio-Cortez noted, 'The way we are handling it in NYC isn’t to force people to switch what they already have. Folks can keep their appliances, and new buildings in NYC will have gas-free stoves. As for federally, any proposal from the CPSC would go through a quite lengthy review and input process.'"

Read Factcheck.org's full report here.

In April 2024, Congress passed a package of bills which including sending military aid to Israel. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was among the few Democrats who opposed sending unconditional military aid to Israel.

"[The Democrats] said before the vote that they opposed unfettered aid to Israel that could be used in its offensive in Gaza. The opposition to the Israel aid represented a minority of Democrats, but reflected the deep resistance to unconditional aid and the divisions in the party on Gaza."

Read The New York Time's full report here.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez rejects all funding, donations, and support from by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In fact, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has labeled AIPAC as an "extremist organization that destabilizes US democracy.”

Read The Hill's full report here.