Teamsters president shrugs off AOC's criticism for not endorsing Harris, tells her to 'focus on her job'

The Teamsters’ President Sean O’Brien defended his union's decision not to endorse presidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump, telling an outraged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to focus on her own job "instead of mine."

CNN host Dana Bash spoke to O’Brien on Thursday, sharing a video clip of Ocasio-Cortez arguing he is biting the hand that feeds him and his organization.

"At the end of the day, we know that when the Teamsters are in trouble," she said. "Who do they call when we need to make sure that Teamsters’ pensions are bailed out, when we need to make sure that they’re-that they have a fair shake at the negotiating table?"

"It was Sean O‘Brien calling Democrats out for help," AOC argued.

Bash then asked O’Brien directly, "If Democrats are the ones that consistently, not just support your legislative priorities, but pass them into law, why are you refusing to endorse and give [Harris] the really key boots on the ground grassroots in a 50-50 race?"

O'Brien immediately responded by attempting to clear up alleged inconsistencies by AOC.

"Well, I just may want to clean up a couple of things that are inconsistent," he said. "We were not calling on the administration. We were calling the administration to stay out of it."

O'Brien went on to claim that in his neighborhood in Boston where he grew up, "if two people are having a disagreement, [and] you have nothing to do with it, you keep on walking, so that statement is inconsistent."

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"Now, she [AOC] has to remember that there is a clear divide, especially in Teamster members, between the Democrats and the Republicans, and instead of trying to pick a fight with labor leaders who listened to their members and embrace their members’ opinions, she should maybe get into her district where it voted far Republican, far-right Republican, and maybe find out what the problem is," O’Brien suggested. "When I have a problem at a worksite, and there is criticism, I get right in there and find out."

"In our polling – New York – her district voted overwhelmingly Republican to support former President Trump, so she may wanna focus on her job instead of mine," he added.

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The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was widely criticized on Wednesday after announcing it would not be endorsing a presidential candidate. While many prominent Democratic leaders have responded by arguing their policies are more pro-union, polling revealed that a majority of Teamster members favored Trump over Harris, 58% to 31%. 

"Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before big business," O’Brien said in a statement.

Like Ocasio-Cortez, other Democratic Party leaders were not pleased.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. who, like O'Brien, hails from the Boston area, called former President Trump the "most anti-labor president we have ever had." "It’s clear that these workers are misinformed or uninformed about Trump’s record on labor," McGovern told the Washington Times. "His allegiance isn’t toward working people."

McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said it is obvious that Trump supports "rich people" over the working class.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meanwhile, called the Teamsters’ decision "disappointing."

"Donald Trump refused to support a pension bill for Teamsters. It was Biden-Harris and Democrats who saved Teamsters pensions in the Butch Lewis Act of our American Rescue Plan — without one Republican vote," she said on X. 

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Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report.