Post misrepresents old video of AOC town hall as counter to Trump's Bronx rally | Fact check

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Video shows Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez event held opposite Trump’s May 2024 Bronx rally

A May 26 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking in a mostly empty auditorium.

“AOC called an event in the Bronx to try to counteract the presence of people in the Bronx at the Trump rally and this is what the room looks like,” reads text in the video.

The post received more than 400 in four days. Similar videos were shared widely on TikTok and on X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

The video shows an October 2022 town hall that Ocasio-Cortez hosted. The congresswoman held no public events on the day of former President Donald Trump's rally in the Bronx, according to her campaign spokesperson.

Post misrepresents video from October 2022

With his hush money trial nearing its end in Manhattan, Trump – the presumptive Republican presidential nominee – held a rally May 23 in the Bronx. It took place in a park less than a mile from the western edge of the congressional district Ocasio-Cortez represents.

But the claim in the Instagram video is false. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, did not hold a rally opposite Trump's. The video featured in the Instagram post is from a town hall she held on Oct. 12, 2022. In the 12-second clip, she is seen talking about President Joe Biden’s executive order issued six days earlier that pardoned many offenses for marijuana possession. Video of the event posted by her office shows her making the same statement at roughly the 16-minute mark.

Additionally, the slide on the screen behind her is titled “President’s Marijuana Reform.” That slide also is visible in news coverage of the event from The Bronx Ink, an online news outlet run by journalism students at Columbia University.

Fact check: Image shows fabricated AOC post about conservatives' 'misogyny and racism'

Ocasio-Cortez held no public events on the day Trump rallied in the Bronx, campaign spokesperson Diego de la Vega told USA TODAY. She gave several media interviews that day, then reacted to Trump’s speech live while appearing on Twitch with streamer Hasan Piker, de la Vega said.

Ocasio-Cortez has been a frequent subject of misinformation online. USA TODAY has debunked false claims that she faces jail time for campaign finance violations, was thrown out of Congress and has a net worth of $29 million.

The Instagram user who shared the post could not be reached by USA TODAY.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AOC didn't hold rally to counter Trump's Bronx visit | Fact check

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