Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responds to rumors claiming she hired her boyfriend

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has refuted claims from the right wing that she hired her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, as part of her staff.

GOP strategist Luke Thompson accused congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter, claiming that she has employed her boyfriend as staff, drawing a salary on the taxpayer's dime.

He accompanied the tweet with a screenshot of what he said was the official email of Riley Roberts.

Shortly after he posted the tweet, the congresswoman replied, refuting his claims, stating that it’s typical for spouses of people in office to have access to their partner’s Google calendar.

In her words:

“Actually this cal designation is a permission so he can have access to my Google Cal. Congressional spouses get Gcal access all the time. Next time check your facts before you tweet nonsense.”

Luke countered, saying the designation is neither “spouse” nor “boyfriend” but “staff.” Then he asked if Riley is a government employee or a volunteer and the role for which he does government work.

To this, the congresswoman’s chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, replied:

“He's not paid. We have no volunteers in the office. He's not doing any government work. He can see her calendar just like spouses/partners/family members in other congressional office. Check your damn facts before you report bullshit. Lazy journos need to learn to do their jobs.”

Quite a number of people have responded to both Luke Thompson’s tweet and the congresswoman’s reply to it. Some of them believe Luke’s argument is from an ignorant standpoint while others are of the opinion that the congresswoman isn’t being truthful.

One of the responses was that she could share her work calendar with him at his own email.

But another countered this, stating that using his personal email would amount to a security breach.

Alexandria’s boyfriend, Riley Roberts, works in tech. This is the more reason why some believe that he could pose a security threat if given access to official resources.

This is not the first time the congresswoman has lashed out at people spreading "rumors" about her. It was earlier reported that she called a GOP "intellectually bankrupt" after he claimed that she had been evicted from her apartment twice and had a bad credit rating.