Ocasio-Cortez pushes bizarre conspiracy theory to explain why Republicans defeated motion for new witnesses

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) appeared to endorse a conspiracy theory to explain why Republicans rejected a motion to call new witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Friday.

"The Senate's abdication of responsibility to the rule of law represents a much deeper threat to our democracy, our institutions, and our republic," she claimed in a tweet.

"The GOP knows that its agenda is incompatible with democracy, so their larger project is to dismantle it," she added.

Ocasio-Cortez retweeted an article from Rolling Stones writer Jamil Smith claiming that Republicans didn't want to punish the president for trying to manipulate the election, because they wanted the opportunity to manipulate the election also.

"They did this for a reason. Not necessarily to give Trump ultimate power, though Republicans are okay with that," Smith said.

"It's about the fact that he was caught manipulating an election," he added, "something that they too would like to continue doing without interruption."

Ocasio-Cortez was responding to the vote on Friday that sealed the deal on closing the impeachment trial without any new witnesses. Democrats hoped that they would be able to see former Trump national security advisor John Bolton testify about the reported claims in his book that seem to corroborate the impeachment accusations.

The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to vote to acquit the president of two articles of impeachment on Wednesday.

Here's the latest on the impeachment trial:

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