'Corrupt, illegal, authoritarian': Ocasio-Cortez shames Susan Collins for enabling Trump's NY quid-pro-quo threat
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Photo: Ståle Grut / NRKbeta.)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Thursday expressed outrage at President Donald Trump for tying the blocking of New York residents' access to Global Entry with the state's lawsuits against him and his businesses.


In a tweet posted earlier in the day, Trump listed demands he would make of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to get the Global Entry hold lifted, including having the state "stop all of its unnecessary lawsuits and harrassment (sic)."

Ocasio-Cortez responded by accusing the president of shaking down her state for something that would once again benefit him personally.

"Trump is publicly admitting that he is holding Global Entry for New Yorkers hostage in exchange for dropping lawsuits against him and his family’s lawbreaking behavior," she wrote. "This is corrupt, illegal, and authoritarian."

The New York congresswoman then threw in a shot at centrist Republican senators who voted to acquit the president of abuse of power charges for trying to shake down the Ukrainian government to get it to investigate his political opponents.

"Hope Collins and Murkowski are proud of their vote," she wrote.