WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., met Friday morning following tensions between the two lawmakers over the humanitarian border aid bill.
The meeting, which took place in Pelosi’s office, lasted about 30 minutes.
Asked if the pair were able to bury the hatchet, Pelosi said, "I don't think there ever was any hatchet."
"We had a good meeting, and the congresswoman is a very gracious member of Congress," Pelosi told reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill. "We just had a meeting to clear the air," she added.
Ocasio-Cortez, for her part, told NBC News that the meeting was "positive" and "productive." When asked whether Pelosi respected her opinion, Ocasio-Cortez replied, "Absolutely."
"I’m looking forward to us continuing our work. As always the speaker respects the fact that we’re coming together as a party and that unity," she added.
In a tweet posted just after the meeting ended, Pelosi said that she and Ocasio-Cortez "sat down to discuss working together to meet the needs of our districts and our country, fairness in our economy and diversity in our country."
When NBC News asked Ocasio-Cortez before the meeting what her message to the speaker will be, she said, "I don’t think I have a strong message — just connect and make sure we are communicating."
The meeting — the first between the two in months — had been scheduled by Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez after President Donald Trump began attacking the New York congresswoman and three other Democratic congresswomen of color, known together as "the squad."
Last month, as Pelosi was trying to put together the spending package to provide resources to the U.S. border with Mexico, she made concessions to the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a much larger set of lawmakers that includes the squad.
When it came time to vote, however, the squad cast the only Democratic votes against the bill.
In the wake of Trump's attacks, however, Pelosi defended the four congresswomen, striking a note of party unity.
