Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York liked a series of tweets calling for CNN to cancel its scheduled town hall with former president Donald Trump, after a jury found Mr Trump liable for her sexual abuse in a civil trial.
The twice-impeached former president, who is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, is set to participate in a town hall on Wednesday. The event will be moderated by Kaitlan Collins.
But Ms Ocasio-Cortez, the outspoken democratic socialist and second-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight & Accountability Committee, liked a series of tweets saying CNN should not hold the town hall.
Ms Ocasio Cortez liked a tweet by Elie Mystal, a writer for The Nation, asking if CNN would host the event still.
“CNN is going to cancel the town hall instead of platforming a sexual predator, right? RIGHT? [/sweet summer child sarcasm off],” he tweeted.
She also liked a tweet from MSNBC Host Chris Hayes, on whose show she has regularly appeared.
“Very cool to give Trump a chance to defame this woman again on live national TV,” he tweeted.
Writer E Jean Carroll claimed that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s. The jury did not find Mr Trump liable for raping Ms Carroll but did hold him liable for sexual abuse.
“In a real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself,” Robbie Kaplan, Ms Carroll’s attorney said on Monday.
Mr Trump’s campaign excoriated the decision in a statement on Tuesday.
“The Democratic Party’s never-ending witch-hunt of President Trump hit a new low today. In jurisdictions wholly controlled by the Democratic Party our nation’s justice system is now compromised by extremist left-wing politics. We have allowed false and totally made-up claims from troubled individuals to interfere with our elections, doing great damage.”
