AOC condemns Republican group for calling her 'domestic terrorist'

Congresswoman says multiple people have been arrested trying to harm her

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has condemned a college Republican group after it branded the congresswoman a “domestic terrorist” in a fundraising email.

The email was circulated by Tom Ferrall, chairman of the Ohio Federation of College Republicans, and used the phrase “AOC is a domestic terrorist” in the subject line.

Ferrall wrote: “My fellow students often tell me that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a ‘role model’ and that America should be more like socialist Europe”.

He added: “We need your help to stop the brainwashing!”

In comments on Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez said similar rhetoric from other conservative organisations had led to an increase in death threats.

“This puts me in danger every time,” she said.

“Almost every time this uncalled for rhetoric gets blasted by conserv. grps, we get a spike in death threats to refer to Capitol Police.”

The Ohio Federation of College Republicans has since distanced itself from the email.

It has called the email “unauthorised” and released a statement saying: “We apologize to Congresswoman Ocascio-Cortez [sic] for the use of unacceptable language in this email, and we do not approve of the message conveyed”.

Ocasio-Cortez said multiple people had been arrested trying to harm her and the US Representative for Minnesota Ilhan Omar, who has been accused of antisemitism for her criticism of Israel and pro-Israel American lobbying organisations.

Last week, a man was charged with threatening to kill Omar after calling her a “terrorist” and saying he would “put a bullet in her … skull” during a phone call to her office.