AOC spotted talking to Gosar, a year after he posted anime video of her being killed

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Rep. Paul Gosar were captured chatting away in the House chamber Tuesday, 14 months after the Arizona Republican was censured for sharing an anime video of him killing her. 

The left-wing New Yorker and right-wing Arizonan were seated next to one another and were caught in animated conversation for several minutes amid the drama Tuesday afternoon of who would become the next House speaker. 

Talking Points Memo reported that Gosar – one of the Republican rebels trying to take down Rep. Kevin McCarthy‘s speakership bid – wanted to know from AOC if Democrats would leave the floor in an effort to help the California GOP leader. 

In order to be elected speaker, a candidate most receive a majority of the votes from members present. If all members are voting the magic number is 218.  

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Rep. Paul Gosar were captured chatting away in the House chamber Tuesday, 14 months after the Arizona Republican was censured for sharing an anime video of him killing her

After the image of the two conversing started to go viral, Gosar tweeted a caption for it: ‘So then I says “The combustion engine was actually a miracle of engineering that people take for granted today…,”‘ he wrote

Rep. Paul Gosar was censured in November 2021 for sharing an anime video that depicted the Arizona Republican killing AOC, one of the most liberal members of Congress 

However, members can vote ‘present’ instead of for a particular candidate, lowering the threshold McCarthy would need to ascend to the role. 

‘Gosar heard from McCarthy that McCarthy could get Dems to leave [and] thereby lower the number of votes needed,’ a source told TPM.  ‘She said, no, it wasn’t [true].’ 

After the image of Gosar and Ocasio-Cortez started to go viral, Gosar tweeted a caption: ‘So then I says “The combustion engine was actually a miracle of engineering that people take for granted today…,”‘ he wrote. 

The Intercept reported Tuesday that Rep. Matt Gaetz, another rogue Republican, had made a similar inquiry to AOC.  

‘McCarthy was suggesting he could get Dems to walk away to lower the threshold,’ Ocasio-Cortez told the publication. ‘And I fact checked and said absolutely not.’ 

During Tuesday afternoon’s speakership drama, the Democrats have remained a solid bloc in support of New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the agreed upon Democratic replacement for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

But all afternoon a band of rogue Republicans have cast votes for other candidates – mainly Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who under McCarthy was set to become the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee.  

AOC told The Intercept that she checked with Democratic Party leadership and found that there were no plans for a group of Democrats to vote ‘present’ to help McCarthy out. 

Earlier, Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar ripped McCarthy during his first nomination speech of the day for Jeffries. 

‘He does not traffic in extremism. He does not grovel to or make excuses for a twice-impeached former president,’ Aguilar said. ‘He does not bend the knee to anyone who would seek to undermine our democracy.’ 

McCarthy has mostly stayed in the MAGA fold – condemning former President Donald Trump in the direct aftermath of the January 6 Capitol attack, but cuddling up to him again in the months after. 

But that still hasn’t helped him with some of the most MAGA faithful, including Gaetz, Gosar and Rep. Lauren Boebert. 

Around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the House adjourned for the day, with the speakership issue left unsettled.