The departure of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff has drawn some polarizing responses

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

last updated 4 August 2019

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is undergoing a staff shakeup, The Intercept reports.

Her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, is leaving to go work for New Consensus, a nonprofit focused on climate issues that's promoting the Green New Deal, albeit not always smoothly. Ocasio-Cortez's communications director, Corbin Trent, will also depart the congresswoman's office and take over communications for her 2020 campaign, instead.

Ocasio-Cortez's office said the changes are not a result of trying to mend things with Democratic Party leadership, specifically with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), with whom she has traded barbs in the past (both lawmakers have downplayed the tensions); Chakrabarti, in particular, was mired in some of the controversy. Instead, Trent said Chakrabarti's goal "has always been to do whatever he can to help the larger progressive movement," hence his shift to climate action.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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