The woman who confronted former Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation is headed back to Congress, this time to attend the State of the Union.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has invited activist Ana Maria Archila as her guest for Tuesday's speech, The Intercept reports. During the contentious Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, Archila, who identified herself as a survivor of sexual assault, cornered the then-senator in an elevator alongside another woman and implored him not to support Kavanaugh's confirmation in light of the sexual assault allegations against him. After being broadcast live on CNN, the confrontation went viral. Flake that same day pushed for an additional FBI investigation into Kavanaugh, who denied the allegations, but ultimately voted in favor of confirming him.
Archila, who is the co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy Action and is from the district Ocasio-Cortez represents, told The Intercept that is she is "moved" by the congresswoman's decision to invite her and to shed a light back on "my confrontation with the men who do not understand the life of women and the lives of people who are not in power."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It's typical for members of Congress to invite State of the Union guests who help them make a political statement, and other attendees Democrats have invited to Trump's speech this year include a government worker affected by the shutdown, a mother and daughter who were separated at the border, and a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, per CNN.
-
Trump boosts gas cars in fuel economy rollbackspeed read Watering down fuel efficiency standards is another blow to former President Biden’s effort to boost electric vehicles
-
Hegseth’s Signal chat put troops in peril, probe findsSpeed Read The defense secretary risked the lives of military personnel and violated Pentagon rules, says new report
-
Texas is trying to become America’s next financial hubIn the Spotlight The Lone Star State could soon have three major stock exchanges
-
Trump boosts gas cars in fuel economy rollback
speed read Watering down fuel efficiency standards is another blow to former President Biden’s effort to boost electric vehicles
-
Hegseth’s Signal chat put troops in peril, probe finds
Speed Read The defense secretary risked the lives of military personnel and violated Pentagon rules, says new report
-
Trump pardons Texas Democratic congressmanspeed read Rep. Henry Cuellar was charged with accepting foreign bribes tied to Azerbaijan and Mexico
-
GOP wins tight House race in red Tennessee districtSpeed Read Republicans maintained their advantage in the House
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
-
Hegseth blames ‘fog of war’ for potential war crimespeed read ‘I did not personally see survivors,’ Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting
-
Canada joins EU’s $170B SAFE defense fundspeed read This makes it the first non-European Union country in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative
-
Appeals court disqualifies US Attorney Alina HabbaSpeed Read The former personal attorney to President Donald Trump has been unlawfully serving as US attorney for New Jersey, the ruling says
