Trump predicts AOC will challenge Senator Chuck Schumer - and win
Donald Trump made a bold prediction about Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's future during a Fox News interview this week.
The president predicted that Ms Ocasio-Cortez will challenge - and defeat - Senator Chuck Schumer for his seat in the US Senate.
"Schumer's going to get beaten by her. She's going to run against Schumer, and he knows that and he's going to get beaten by her unless you can talk her out of doing it," Mr Trump said during an interview on Fox News Business. "He has no chance."
Ms Ocasio-Cortez is running for re-election for her congressional seat this November after defeating several primary challengers in New York's primaries in June.
"AOC will run against Chuck Schumer for the Senate. Yeah, I mean, I think. And I think she'll win," Mr Trump said.
Mr Schumer is the Senate minority leader and a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Mr Schumer is currently serving his fourth six-year term in the Senate after being re-elected in 2016.
The president's comments may have been inspired by a recent wave of primary successes by a slew of progressive Democratic candidates in the state's June primaries against entrenched establishment Democratic lawmakers.
Mr Trump's predictions for the freshman Democratic congresswoman were not necessarily a sign of praise. He also suggested she was a "poor student" during an interview with Fox News Business.
"AOC was a poor student. I mean I won't say where she went to school, it doesn't matter," Mr Trump said. "This is not even a smart person, other than she's got a good line of stuff. I mean, she goes out and she yaps. These guys, they're all afraid of her."
Ms Ocasio-Cortez shot back at the president on Twitter, challenging him to produce his own school records for comparison.
"Let's make a deal, Mr President. You release your college transcript, I'll release mine, and we'll see who was the better student," she said. "Loser has to fund the Post Office."
Ms Ocasio-Cortez recently received a public statement of support from one of her teachers on Twitter.
"You've got this, remember all those poems we recited together in 2nd grade? It was prep for this moment. You've got this," her teacher wrote.
The congresswoman recognised the teacher's name and thanked her for teaching her.
"Ms Jacobs! Is that you?! Yes, I do remember the poems we recited in second grade," she wrote. "You prepared me perfectly for this moment. Thank you for teaching me, encouraging my growth, and believing in me as a child!"
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