The Daily Populous Thursday August 18th, 2022 morning edition
Authored by eu.usatoday.com and submitted by Surferino

Fact check: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has assets of less than $100,000

Show Caption Hide Caption Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, other Dems arrested during abortion rights protest At least 16 members of Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, were arrested outside the Supreme Court during an abortion rights protest. Scott L. Hall, USA TODAY

The claim: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a net worth of $29 million

Multiple posts spreading on Facebook claim Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has a net worth of $29 million.

“How in the hell is AOC worth $29 million,” reads an Aug. 4 Facebook post shared more than 400 times. “She was just bar tending (sic) the other day!”

A different Aug. 4 Facebook post mentions Ocasio-Cortez’s student loan debt, which is a topic she has spoken about many times.

“AOC net worth is $29 million, on a government salary that paid $174k yearly,” reads the post, which was shared more than 170 times. “You better believe she can pay off her own damn student loan.”

But the claim is false. Ocasio-Cortez’s most recent financial disclosure, which was filed in 2021, shows her with assets between $3,003 and $45,000, including a 401(k) plan, and student loan debt between $15,001 and $50,000.

USA TODAY reached out to several users who shared the claim for comment.

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Forbes hasn't reported Ocasio-Cortez's net worth

In 2019, Ocasio-Cortez assumed office as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. In her first financial disclosure, which members of Congress are required to file, she reported she had a checking account, a brokerage account and a 401(k) plan collectively worth between $3,003 and $45,000. (Such federal disclosures report a range rather than specific figures.)

At the time, the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org ranked her among the poorest members of Congress, where more than half of members are millionaires. The salary for members of Congress is $174,000 a year.

The source of the $29 million figure appears to be a report by CAknowledge.com from April that does not cite any sources, other than several references to Forbes, which hasn't investigated Ocasio- Cortez's net worth.

Fact check: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez arrested during protest at the Supreme Court

“Forbes has not reported on the net worth of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Jocelyn Swift, Forbes’ director of corporate communications, told USA TODAY by email.

CAknowledge.com has also shared the supposed net worth of other well-known politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who it claims has a net worth of $28 million, $67 million and $69 million in different places in the same report. In 2021, Forbes estimated Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, were worth about $7 million.

This isn't the first time misinformation has spread about Ocasio-Cortez's supposed wealth. In 2021, a social media post falsely claimed her net worth was more than $1 million. Her financial disclosures at the time showed that wasn't the case.

Ocasio-Cortez has supported a variety of progressive measures, such as raising the minimum wage, forgiving student loan debt and increasing taxes for the wealthy, and she has frequently been the subject of criticism and misinformation by conservatives.

Reuters has previously debunked this claim.

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Ocasio-Cortez has a net worth of $29 million. Her most recent financial disclosure shows her with assets between $3,003 and $45,000, including a 401(k) plan, and student loan debt between $15,001 and $50,000.

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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

StateOfTheEnemy on August 17th, 2022 at 17:36 UTC »

> “When I was poor and complained about inequality they said I was bitter; now that I'm rich and I complain about inequality they say I'm a hypocrite. I'm beginning to think they just don't want to talk about inequality.” - Russell Brand

I don't agree with him about a lot, especially recently, but this is spot on.

unhalfbricking on August 17th, 2022 at 17:09 UTC »

I love how the right can hate on AOC for being poor and for being rich simultaneously.

lonzoballsinmymouth on August 17th, 2022 at 16:41 UTC »

It is telling how being "rich" means you can't honestly support policies that address Income inequality in the eyes of Republicans.

"If I'm rich there's no way I'm helping people, so why would anyone else" kinda attitude