Democrat wunderkind Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went after the New York Times over the weekend, on fire over the paper’s take on former Trump administration staff member Hope Hicks complying – or not — with a subpoena as “Hope’s Choice.”
“What gets me is news breaks that this woman is weighing committing a crime before Congress & it’s getting framed by the NYT as some Lifetime drama called ‘Hope’s Choice’ ” Ocasio-Cortez pointed out on Twitter. “This is a fmr admin official considering participating in a coverup led by the President. Treat her equally.”
Printed in Thursday’s edition, the article referred to Hicks as among the “best-known but least visible” members of the White House. It also suggested that Hicks faced an “existential question” on the question of obeying or ignoring the subpoena.
It was nearly a week ago that the House Judiciary Committee sent subpoenas to both Hicks and Anne Donaldson, the one-time staff chief for ex-White House counsel Don McGahn. The aim was to get them to turn over documents and testify.
“This is a good example of bias in the @nytimes: a picture of a person who is considering not complying with a subpoena is basically a glam shot, and it’s framed as a thoughtful, perfectly equal choice,” tweeted Soledad O’Brien, the chief executive officer of Starfish Media Group.
Ocasio-Cortez followed with this tweet of her own: “Yup. Where’s the ‘no angel’ take now?… In the immediate aftermath of shootings, media routinely post menacing photos of people-of-color victims + dredge up any questionable thing they’d ever done. But when Hope Hicks considers not complying w a subpoena, it’s glamour shot time.”
“The article comes as the White House has been defying subpoenas from congressional committee investigating the Trump administration,” the New York Post reported, adding, “McGahn blew off a subpoena to testify before the House Judiciary Committee last week after the Trump administration said he had “immunity.” House Democrats are also considering dates for when the full House chamber would vote to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for not turning over to Congress a full, unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.”
Adding to the Twitter storm was Rolling Stone writer Jamil Smith. “There is nothing for Hope Hicks to ‘decide.’ She got a subpoena from Congress. Were she not white, wealthy, and connected, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. She would appear, or she would face the threat of prison like the rest of us. As she should.”