Did Ocasio-Cortez ask to maintain COVID-19 restrictions to hurt Trump? Fact Check

ByCraig Haley

Messages on social media claim that US congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted to her followers that she was urging governors to maintain COVID-19 restrictions on businesses until after the November 2020 presidential election in order to shrink the economy, thus damaging President Trump’s re-election prospects.

FALSE

The messages usually come in the form of an alleged screenshot of a tweet published by Ocasio-Cortez.

It’s vital that Governors maintain restrictions on businesses until after the November Elections because economic recovery will help Trump be re-elected. A few business closures or job losses is a small price to pay to be free from his presidency. #KeepUsClosed

In 2020, a number of restrictions were put into place in the United States, as well as most other countries in the world, to help curb the spread of COVID-19. This included restrictions placed on businesses, many of which have been unable to open during the pandemic.

This in turn inevitably damages the economy of the countries that place such restrictions. The screenshot above, apparently posted by congresswomen (and frequent target of Trump) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, asks governors to keep such restrictions in place to keep the economy down and thus shrink President Trump’s re-election chances.


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But the tweet is fake, and shows all the typical hallmarks of a fake tweet.

Firstly, there is no record of the tweet on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter feed.

Secondly, there is no record of the tweet on any of the archives that record deleted tweets.


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Thirdly, there is no record of anyone re-tweeting or copying and pasting the text into other tweets at the time it was allegedly published.

As such, it is likely that the tweet was created using many of the “fake tweet” tools that are freely available on the Internet.

We rank the claim false.

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