New York Democratic Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez misquoted the U.S. Constitution and threatened to run for president just to spite Republicans.
During a photo shoot at Harvard University as part of an event for Politico, Ocasio-Cortez falsely claimed that the Constitutional age restriction to run for president only applies to men.In between the photo shoot, Politico notes that the photographer joked with Ocasio-Cortez about running for president in a few years.
"You can't even run for president for another six years," the photographer said, noting that she had just turned 29-years-old.
Ocasio-Cortez responded by falsely stating that the U.S. Constitution only places a presidential age limit on men, not women.
"No, not for a long time. Thank God," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Although we've been joking that because the Equal Rights Amendment hasn't been passed yet, the Constitution technically says he cannot run unless he's 35," she falsely claimed.
She also threatened to run for president if Republicans don't pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
"So what we'll do is we'll force the Republican Party to pass the Equal Rights Amendment by threatening to run for president," she continued.
Article II Section I of the U.S. Constitution explicitly states "any person," not "he," as she claimed.
Below is an excerpt of the relevant clause:
Quote:
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.
