- The woman who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator and urged him not to support then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh amid sexual misconduct allegations will be attending the State of the Union address.
- Ana Maria Archila told The Intercept that she would be going as the guest of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents her district.
- Archila’s speech to Kavanaugh before he was to vote on advancing Kavanaugh’s nomination went viral.
- She told Flake: "What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court. This is not tolerable."
- Immediately after Achila’s speech, Flake called for a one-week delay in the vote so the FBI could investigate a sexual assault claim made against him.
The woman who cornered Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator over his support for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as he was accused of sexual misconduct will be Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s guest to the State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Ana Maria Archila and other protestors confronted Flake in an elevator last September, when he was on his way to the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination, despite multiple women’s claims that he had sexually assaulted them or that they had seen him commit sexual misconduct.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Archila, who is the co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, gave an emotional address to Flake that broadcast live on CNN and went viral on social media.
Read more: Teens voice their anger and shock over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation
Their interaction was credited with Flake’s decision to call for a one-week delay in the Senate vote so that the FBI could investigate the claims against Kavanaugh after Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University, testified to the Senate that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were in high school.
"On Monday, I stood in front of your office. I told the story of my sexual assault. I told it because I recognized in Dr. Ford’s story that she is telling the truth," Archila can be heard telling Flake in a video of her confrontation.
"What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court," she added. "This is not tolerable."
"I have two children. I cannot imagine that for the next 50 years they will have to have someone in the Supreme Court who has been accused of violating a young girl," she said. "What are you doing, sir?"
Flake ultimately voted to confirm Kavanaugh, who repeatedly denied all of the accusations and is now a Supreme Court Justice.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Archila, who is one of Ocasio-Cortez’s constituents in Queens, told The Intercept that she was "moved" by Ocasio-Cortez’s invitation.
"I just feel particularly moved that in her first participation in the State of the Union she is inviting me to join and inviting that moment of the elevator, my confrontation with the men who do not understand the life of women and the lives of people who are not in power, that she’s inviting that into the imagination of people again," Archila said.
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Ocasio-Cortez dropped a hint on Twitter on Saturday over who she was bringing to the address.
"Y’all aren’t ready for NY-14’s #StateOfTheUnion guest!" she wrote.
"Here’s a hint: I just picked up this gift for them at our very own Lockwood Shop in Jackson Heights," she added, attaching a photo of a pin that says: "Well behaved women rarely make history."
Business Insider has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for confirmation on Archila’s invitation.
Ocasio-Cortez, like most Democrats, opposed Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and she spoke at a rally opposing his confirmation in October.
Scott Eisen/Getty Images
President Donald Trump will give the State of the Union on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Trump has said that the theme of his speech will be "unity," though he has hinted that he may drop major bombshells such as declaring a national emergency to get border wall funding and announce a new summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
He has also told aides that he wants to focus on abortion in his speech, according to Politico.
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See Also:
- US prosecutors reportedly subpoena Trump golf courses in Scotland, which some Democrats worry might have been funded by Russian money
- Trump is teasing bombshells for his State of the Union address. They could include a national emergency over the wall and a new summit with Kim Jong Un.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got a glowing review from Steve Bannon, who praised her ‘grit, determination, fighting spirit’
Source: Business Insider