Thread by @carloseats

AOC is saying on IG Live she received messages from other member of Congress that they knew and were hearing from Trump people and Republicans that there was violence expected on Wednesday (Jan. 6).

AOC adds that the insurrectionists were already in town on Monday before the attack. She said the crowd was running and coming near the Capitol already days before.

She says when she saw the crowd she thought "this is weird" and "that's suspicious" considering how the military and police responded to BLM protesters.

She says Republican kind of Trump people crowded behind her car which was parked in front of Capitol Hill. She says they pulled out their phones and asked her "Hey AOC why do you hate this country?"

AOC says she started messing with them and playing along in what was a school yard kind of bullying, but was on the inside concerned. She said her "heart was beating pretty fast". She said she created enough space to hit drive and skirt away.

On Tuesday she says there were even more people around Capitol Hill. More rallies, mics and speakers set up. AOC says it felt "volatile and dangerous". She said she doesn't think people felt safe walking to vote in Congress.

AOC says by Tuesday she was already taking her security pin off by the time she left the building so that if someone was looking from far away someone would think she was just another girl walking around.

AOC says it felt 100% like when you're at a bodega and you know someone is about to get jumped but in a boujee grocery store. 24 hours before she said felt it was not safe to be outside.

AOC says people in Congress were already asking what the security situation is. Then Capitol Police leadership told them "don't worry about it. we got it. all we need you do is show up at 9AM on Wednesday". NOTE: WaPo has also reported this in their story on what led up it.

AOC says on Wednesday she carpooled with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. They were running behind and AOC got to her office around 9:30AM.

She said she was in her office multiple hours before needed since Capitol Police told them to be early.

Since AOC was there early she says she went to get her second dose of the vaccine.

After her shot she had to sit for 15 minutes for the observation period. AOC says she asked the nurse a bunch of questions since it hurt more on the second dose. Then they let her go and she started walking back to her office.

AOC says she starts scrolling for ordering lunch. Her Chief of Staff calls around 12:45PM and says "hey how are you feeling". AOC says she was "feeling great". She was concerned about Wednesday days before, but when Ossoff and Warnock won Georgia she felt a weight was taken off.

AOC says at 1:01PM all of the sudden she hears "BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM" on her door. Then she hears huge violent bangs on her door and then on every door going into her office. "BANG BANG BANG BANG". Like someone was trying to break the door down.

She says she ran over and was told "Hide. Hide. Run and hide." She says she runs back and slams her door. Uses a back door and goes into a closet and bathroom and she jumps into the bathroom and closes the door. And she kept hearing BANG BANG BANG.

AOC realizes the bathroom was the wrong choice and she starts opening the door to her office and plans to run across to the closet.

All of the sudden she hears that whoever was trying to get inside got into her office and AOC realizes its too late. She tries to hide back in the bathroom behind the door. Then she hears yells. "WHERE IS SHE?" "WHERE IS SHE?"

AOC thinks to herself "They got inside."

AOC says this is the moment where she thought everything was over. She says the weird thing about moments like this is you lose all sense of time. She says in retrospect, maybe it was 4 seconds or 10 seconds.

AOC says she felt like her brain was able to have so many thoughts and she says "I thought I was going to die".

She says you have a lot of thoughts when you're in a situation like that.

AOC said she felt like if this the plan for me, then will people will be able to take it from here.

AOC tearfully tells us she felt "she had fulfilled her purpose" if this was the end during the attack.

AOC says she tried to look through 2 door hinges and she sees this White man in a black beanie bump open the door of her personal office and come inside and yell "WHERE IS SHE?".

She says she has never been quieter in her entire life. She said she started sliding down.

AOC says she heard her staffer G yell out. "Hey hey hey it's okay come out come out".

She says she is so rattled that when she comes out and there's a Capitol Police officer with no partner. She says something didn't feel right because he looked at her with anger and hostility.

AOC says she started wondering if she was projecting onto the officer anything. She says she talked to G and G says they didn't know if the officer was there to help or hurt them.

She says G wasn't sure if he was going to have to fight the officer. They couldn't tell.

AOC says the officer yells "go down and go to this building". Doesn't say anything else. The situation felt volatile so she grabs her bag and they start running over to the building. She says they were not escorted. The officer didn't go with them.

AOC says when they get there they realize the Capitol Police officer didn't give them a specific location to go to. The level of the building was street level. So she could hear all the rioters behind the glass of the door yelling. They had no specific location or secure place.

AOC realizes there are two members of Congress she knows in the building and they go there. She says it felt like a zombie movie and they run to the 5th floor. She says they start hearing yells of the rioters and the Capitol Police trying to protect the building.

AOC says it felt like a matter of seconds before the people would break through. They run around and can't find the office. She's like "shoot she's not here" - she goes on Google looking for the office.

AOC says when they got to the first floor they hear the yells getting louder and louder. "The hinges cracking". Yelling and screaming. So she runs to the members office and banging on it. She says no one is on the hallways and she is completely alone with her aide.

She realizes she passed by Rep. Katie Porter's office and runs back to her office. AOC knocks on the door. Katie opens the door.

AOC asks to shelter with her and Katie lets her go in.

AOC says she is at a 10, fight or flight, thought she was going to die.

AOC says they run back and Katie is having a cup of coffee. AOC says she rips through the office like a mad woman, opening every closet and nook, looking for a place to hide when they get to the office.

She asks if there is any clothes she can change into. Porter find a bag.

They work together and Rep. Porter pulls a bag of workout clothes from her staffers with sneakers. AOC says she was in high heels the whole time. They find snacks.

G and staffers push the couches up against the door. AOC had a thought about the drills for school shootings.

AOC says she felt they needed to change clothes to try and blend in with the crowd in case they had to jump out of a window.

Rep. Porter has a extra puffy jacket and AOC puts it on. AOC says she braced for impact. AOC says so many things happened in their period.

AOC says she had conversations with Katie about whether some offices would be safer than others because of white-sounding names or male-sounding names.

She thought "this is what it's come to". AOC says they were sheltering in there with the lights off since the sun sets early.

AOC says at this point they got intelligence about bombs being found 1 or 2 blocks away from where they were.

She says she was preparing for one of the wings of the building to explode. She says she was thinking "what do we do if the building explodes?"

AOC says what also felt traumatising is that there were people willing to do what they needed to do.

She said they were making decisions to put themselves between them and any danger that might break into the room. She says she struggled with that because it wasn't her decision.

She says she sat with the weight of that. AOC says she was supposed to take emergency supplies with them and that the Capitol Police officer didn't tell them to do that.

She says what's weird is that the leadership knew about the threats and didn't prepare. AOC says she thinks about the officer and the uncertainty.

AOC says she is not here to pass judgement on one individual. She says she told her staffer

"At least this isn't the first time I thought I was going to die in my first term"

This wasn't the first time she has received death threats.

AOC says eventually did they find the extraction point and all the members of Congress were being directed to one point. She says she felt like "I'm not going there" - she said members were live-tweeting the location of the Speaker.

She wondered "Where was the National Guard?"

She thought "In another situation they would be called. They're not coming."

She said without them it was only a matter of time. AOC says they didn't know what was going to happen. They were in there for around 5 hours when finally they were able to get out.

AOC says that's why she didn't tweet that day. AOC says she wasn't safe and she didn't feel safe and she wasn't going to lie. She says she didn't feel secure or okay until later.

After a little while she found out the plan was to move forward and certify the election results.

She says ultimately they made a decision to do their duty to certify the results. No amount of insurrectionists were going to stop them from their central task to upholding our democracy.

AOC says there were still people trying to delay and challenge the election results.

AOC says with the building feeling more secure she walked over to Rep. Ayanna Pressley's office after Pressley texted her "come and eat".

She says she stayed there with Katie and she told Ayanna what had happened.

AOC says she didn't realize that she never at any point had told Rep. Katie Porter what had happened because of all the chaos. She says they stayed there until 4AM.

AOC says there are additional traumas on top of what had she had experienced. She says there is trauma of going what you went through and afterwards of people not believing you or trying to publicly humiliate you.

She says the people telling her to "just move on" are using abuser behavior. AOC says this at a point where it's not about the difference of political opinion.

"This is about basic humanity. That's what these people don't get. They have shown. We knew violence was expected."

"We knew that violence was predicated on someone telling the Big Lie about our elections. We knew this all in advance.

We knew that violence depending on someone upholding the lie that our elections were fraudulent" Lies that Republicans had said.

These Senators Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, knew it was a lie and they chose to tell the lie.

All of these things were known in advance. 5...6 people have lost their lives. Other have lost eyes and limbs. Many more traumatized and yet.

"After they told that lie, after they saw people lose their life on the steps of the Capitol. Not even an I'm sorry. Not even an I didn't know that me doing this would result or contribute."

"No, the response is I would do it again. I don't regret it at all. So if that is your stance then that means they continue to be a danger to their colleagues. I would choose to do it again for political gain. That's why we need accountability. It's not about revenge"

"It's about creating safety. We are not safe with people who hold positions of power willing to endanger the lives of others if they think it scores them a political point. Because they want to run for President 4 years from now. WHO CARES. Who cares?"

"Let me tell you. Donald Trump runs a cult of personality. That's not going to transfer to you.

From a political perspective they are laying down their credibility for someone who just will do nothing for them unless it personally it enrich or benefits him"

"It's just not smart from a political calculation level."

AOC stresses that her story isn't the only story and there are 435 stories that need to be told. She says every time Republicans get on television they need to be reminded of what happened.