AOC v. McEnany: Congresswoman attacks White House spokeswoman as 'mired in racist history'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday criticized White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany for what she considered disrespecting her title as a House member – instead referring to her by her popular nickname "AOC."

Ocasio-Cortez was on the attack within minutes of McEnany naming her among several well known Democrats calling for the defunding of police departments across the country, after George Floyd's death. 

"The fact that you have sitting congresswomen wanting to defund the police – notably Rashida Tlaib; notably Biden adviser AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; former Clinton and Eric Holder spokesperson Brian Fallon wanting to defund our police across this country – it is extraordinary," McEnany at a press briefing, according to a White House transcript.

Ocasio-Cortez took issue with McEnany not referring to her by her official title, though McEnany did the same to at least two other people she listed. 

"@PressSec wouldn’t be the first person to mistake a women of color for having a lower position or title than she does, but Kayleigh – in case you haven’t picked up a newspaper in two years, I’m a Congresswoman," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

The congresswoman further asserted that McEnany's comment is "steeped in a long, hurtful, & horrendous history of stripping women of color of titles and diminishing them to 'the help.'" 

"Perhaps she isn’t aware that what she did is mired in racist history. If that is the case, I look forward to her apology tomorrow," Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

McEnany shot back on Twitter, highlighting in the transcript where she used the word "congresswomen" during her remarks.

Ocasio-Cortez backed Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential primaries. She is a co-chair of a climate policy-related task force which is one of the "Unity Task Forces," announced by Biden and Sanders. According to NBC News, the congresswoman "will be serving as Sanders' representative on the committee convened by Biden dealing with climate policy, her spokeswoman said."