'Nothing but tumbleweeds up there': AOC mocks Paul Gosar after he posts anime video showing him assassinating her

Gosar issued lengthy statement reassuring colleagues amid backlash over video

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow (Jane Barlow/PA) (PA Wire)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took aim at Paul Gosar once again on Wednesday as the controversy continues around an anime-style video shared by Mr Gosar depicting him battling both Ms Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden with a sword.

The New York lawmaker insinuated that her colleague from Arizona was unintelligent in a post from her Twitter account, and retweeted a screenshot of her Instagram story in which she expanded on her thoughts about Mr Gosar’s questionable video.

“That man couldn’t add two single digits together if he tried,” she told her Instagram followers.

On Twitter, she added: “[I]t’s true-Gosar has nothing but tumbleweeds up there.”

Mr Gosar’s video, originally posted earlier this week, is an edited version of the opening credits to the Netflix anime series Attack on Titan; the hero characters have the faces of Mr Gosar and several of his fellow Republicans, while two monsters being battled by the team have the faces of Ms Ocasio-Cortez and Mr Biden.

See, the thing about me is that I will 💯% bulldog back a bully.

Ask any Republican I serve on a committee with - when I was first elected, they tried to harp on me and I absolutely handed it to them. Now they don’t. 🤗

Plus it’s true-Gosar has nothing but tumbleweeds up there. https://t.co/iTorvQNyRx

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 10, 2021

In one part of the clip, the character with Mr Gosar’s face delivers a fatal blow to the back of the head of a monster bearing Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s likeness, causing blood to erupt.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez and several of her Democratic colleagues responded to the clip by asserting that their colleague had openly shared a threat or violent fantasy about a congresswoman and the president on his Twitter feed. Some critics called for his censure or expulsion from Congress.

In recent months Mr Gosar’s fellow GOP member of the House, Rep Marjorie Taylor Green, was removed from her House committee assignments (where the majority of work takes place) after a series of videos were uncovered of her espousing wild conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, harassing survivors of a school shooting on the street, and crucially, expressing support for violence against Democrats in Congress including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She has since apologised for some of her comments.

The Arizona congressman’s staff issued an initial statement urging critics to relax and denying that the video glorified violence. That did little to quell the growing outrage, which led to Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling for the House Ethics Committee to get involved on Tuesday.

“Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated,” she wrote in a tweet. “[House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy] should join in condemning this horrific video and call on the Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate.”

Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated. @GOPLeader should join in condemning this horrific video and call on the Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate. https://t.co/qX8kMbiZ8n

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) November 9, 2021

Mr Gosar followed up the news with a lengthier statement doubling down on his claim that he never meant to fantasise or threaten violence against the president or his colleagues, and arguing that the animated murder of a creature with Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s face on it “symbolises the battle for the soul of America”.

The video “was not meant to portray harm or violence” to Ms Ocasio-Cortez or Mr Biden, he added.

Rep. Paul Gosar in a new statement is addressing the blowback from the anime video that caught the attention of top Democrats.

“I do not espouse violence or harm towards any Member of Congress or Mr. Biden," he writes. pic.twitter.com/CwfzHcKVC7

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) November 9, 2021