President Donald Trump has been branded a “criminal” by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the pair traded insults on Twitter after he called her a “wack job”.
The heated exchange began when Mr Trump retweeted a post from his son Donald Trump Jr., who commented on a seemingly unhinged woman speaking on climate change at an AOC event.
The woman was filmed in New York on Thursday night saying: “We only have a few months left.”
She added: “A Swedish professor is saying you know, eat dead people but that’s not fast enough. I think your next campaign slogan has to be this: ‘We got to start eating babies’.”
It is unclear whether the woman was taking part in a stunt or if she had a mental health illness.
The video was shared by Mr Trump’s son, who said: “Seems like a normal AOC supporter to me.”
His post was then retweeted by the US President, with a comment saying: “AOC is a wack job!”
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, responded shortly after, writing: “Better than being a criminal who betrays our country.”
She later shared a longer statement in response, slamming the Trumps for “mocking” the woman.
“We had a fabulous town hall tonight and I’ll be highlighting some moments from it,” she said.
“At one point I was concerned there was a woman in crisis and want to ensure we treat the situation compassionately. Let’s not mock or make a spectacle. Let’s work on Medicare for all.
“This person may have been suffering from a mental condition and it’s not okay that the right-wing is mocking her and potentially make her condition or crisis worse.”
She added: “Be a decent human being and knock it off.”
Senator Bernie Sanders, who has temporarily suspended his campaign over health reasons, also joined the spat, writing: “It’s going to be a real pleasure defeating you.”
Trump and Ocasio-Cortez have repeatedly clashed, with tensions escalating when the US President attacked her and three other progressive Democratic congresswomen, telling them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came”.
The US president did not name his targets, but the attack was directed at the group of liberal congresswoman, including Ocasio-Cortez, who have had a run-in with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and who are sometimes referred to as the “squad”.
The other three women are Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
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Ocasio-Cortez, who comes from a New York-Puerto Rican family, responded by saying: “The country I ‘come from’, and the country we all swear to, is the United States.”
