Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) was in her congressional office in the Cannon House Office Building, which is part of the broader Capitol complex but not inside the domed Capitol building itself, on January 6, 2021.

Where AOC Actually Was

  • AOC has said she was in her office in the Cannon House Office Building, a separate building connected to the Capitol by tunnels and considered part of the Capitol complex.
  • The Cannon building was evacuated during the attack, and AOC described sheltering there and then relocating to another member’s office for safety.

Why There Was Confusion

  • Some critics falsely claimed AOC lied about being “in the Capitol,” but fact-checks note she never said she was in the domed building, only in a neighboring office building on the Capitol complex.
  • The office buildings and Capitol are linked underground, and law enforcement treated the whole complex as at risk during the January 6 attack.

AOC’s Own Account

  • In an Instagram Live and later interviews, AOC described hiding in her office, encountering a Capitol Police officer she found alarming, and fearing for her life as the situation unfolded.
  • She later moved to Rep. Katie Porter’s office, where she has said she told Porter she worried she “might die” that day.

Key Takeaway

  • To answer “where was AOC on January 6th”: she was in her Cannon House Office Building office (part of the Capitol complex but not the main Capitol dome) and then took shelter in another member’s office as the attack progressed.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.