Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke July 19, 2022

Video doesn’t show Jim Jordan insulting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

If Your Time is short

  • The video that this Facebook post describes as showing U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan calling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "just dumb" shows no such exchange, and we found no evidence that he said this elsewhere. 
 

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., haven’t always seen eye to eye, and a widely-viewed Facebook post suggests that acrimony has reached the level of personal attacks. 

"‘You’re just dumb!’ Jim Jordan SILENCES AOC in Congress in epic exchange," reads the description of an approximately 13-minute long video shared in a July 17 Facebook post

We watched the video, and no such exchange happens, nor does Jordan call Ocasio-Cortez dumb. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Featured Fact-check

The video opens with a 2019 clip of Ocasio-Cortez during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing questioning then-Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross over the 2020 census. Both Ocasio-Cortez and Jordan are on the committee, but he doesn’t appear in this clip. Rather, then-Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., is seen interrupting Ocasio-Cortez, though he didn’t call her dumb or silence her. 

Sign up for PolitiFact texts

Then the video shows footage of remarks by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga. She didn’t call Ocasio-Cortez dumb in the video, either. It next shows a clip of Jordan speaking in 2021 as the House debated impeaching former President Donald Trump a second time. Finally, there’s a clip of Jordan defending then-Attorney General William Barr in 2020. Ocasio-Cortez is not featured. 

We looked more broadly online for evidence that Jordan said this to Ocasio-Cortez and found no credible sources to corroborate the Facebook post. 

We rate it False.

 

Our Sources

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Ciara O'Rourke

Video doesn’t show Jim Jordan insulting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!

In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.

Sign me up