Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) sent a false tweet Monday when attempting to correct a tweet that was also false.
A conservative nonprofit recently filed an FEC complaint against Ocasio-Cortez, arguing that the candidate violated campaign laws in her relationship with a PAC and business operated by her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti. Luke Thompson was the first to call attention to Chakrabarti's role as architect of the opaque fundraising scheme.
Left-wing Intercept reporter Jon Schwarz noted in response that Thompson had once worked at Right to Rise, a 2016 pro-Jeb Bush super PAC that was recently fined by the FEC for accepting foreign donations. Ocasio-Cortez quote-tweeted his tweet and crowed that "the creepy org filing bogus ethics complaints against me just *actually* got hit with one of the biggest fines in FEC history."
Whoah: the creepy org filing bogus ethics complaints against me just *actually* got hit with one of the biggest fines in FEC history.
They "took a $1.3 million donation from Chinese corporation—breaking federal law barring foreign interference in elections"(!!!) - @annalecta https://t.co/cFTJxu3pd6
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2019
But as Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale and others immediately pointed out, Ocasio-Cortez's tweet is incorrect. The National Legal and Policy Center filed the FEC complaint against her, not Right to Rise.
This is not true. Right to Rise, the pro-Jeb Bush Super PAC, got hit with the big fine. Three other conservative groups (at least) have filed complaints against Ocasio-Cortez, but Right to Rise isn't one of them. https://t.co/5QTsl7rTTU
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 12, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez tacked on a correction tweet, clarifying that she was talking about the "same guy who operated at the org," and not Right to Rise itself.
(Rather same guy who operated at the org)
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2019
But even that correction was wrong. Thompson has no affiliation with any of the organizations filing the FEC complaint.
Thompson for his part took the false allegations in stride.
This owns. https://t.co/emnkzg9GF1
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) March 12, 2019
Update 3/14/19 8:50 a.m.: A previous version of this story referred to Luke Thompson as a current employee of Applecart. Thompson left the firm prior to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's election to Congress.