Texas Rep. Williams Says He Didn't Hear Verbal Attack On AOC

AUSTIN, TX — Rep. Roger Williams of the 25th congressional district said through a spokesperson he would have condemned an expletive made by a Republican colleague toward a congressional member across the aisle had he heard it.

During an impassioned speech on the House floor Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, recounted a tense encounter on the steps of the east side of the Capitol earlier in the week with Rep. Ted Yoho, a Florida Republican. The impromptu debate centered on issues of crime and policing, she said, revealing during her speech that Roger Williams, a Republican congressman representing Austin, was with Yoho at the time.

In the culmination of the heated exchange with Yoho, the congressman is said to have used a misogynistic slur in describing Ocasio-Cortez, who used the incident to deliver her 10-minute speech decrying sexism in the halls of Congress in general. Yoho earlier confirmed the incident but stopped short of issuing a full-throated apology or admitting use of the expletive.

Reached via email, a spokesperson for Williams said the Texas congressman did not hear an ad hominem attack from Yoho, even as Ocasio-Cortez confirmed he was walking with the Florida representative at the time of the encounter.

“The Congressman did not participate in the exchange between Congressman Yoho and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, nor did he hear what was said in their conversation," a spokesperson told Patch in an email sent Thursday. "Any comments overheard or attributed to Congressman Williams were part of a separate conversation that he and Congressman Yoho were having. Congressman Williams would have immediately condemned that type of language towards any colleague.”

Williams has represented Texas House District 25, which stretches from Fort Worth to Austin, since 2013 after serving as Secretary of State of Texas from 2004 to 2007 under former Gov. Rick Perry. One of the wealthiest members of Congress with an estimated net worth of $27.7 million, Williams was last in the news for having accepted an undisclosed amount of taxpayer-funded financial bailouts for his car business as part of a coronavirus relief program, as numerous media outlets reported at the time.

Watch the fiery speech given by Ocasio-Cortez in the aftermath of the incident below. Sensitive readers may find language at the beginning of the speech objectionable.