Getting arrested was the whole purpose of the gathering, Ocasio-Cortez said in an Instagram post on Tuesday. She said organizers of the Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund asked her and her colleagues to "submit themselves for arrest in front of the Supreme Court."
The New York lawmaker insisted in the post what she and her colleagues did was "very different than a 'publicity stunt.'"
Omar spokesman Jeremy Slevin tweeted about 30 minutes before the lawmakers went to the street that a film crew with the dark money group would be on the scene live filming the event.
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"Members of Congress, including [Omar] will be participating in a civil disobedience at the Supreme Court, potentially including arrests, shortly," Slevin tweeted before the lawmakers began illegally obstructing the street outside the Supreme Court. "@CPDAction is live streaming it. Follow along!"
Andrew Friedman, the co-executive director of CPD Action, told the Washington Post in 2018 that the group and its sister organization, Center for Popular Democracy, receive over $1 million a year from Soros's Open Society Foundations.
As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group, CPD Action isn't forced to reveal the identity of its donors.
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CPD Action said its leaders were among the 18 nonmembers of Congress who were arrested alongside Ocasio-Cortez and the other Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday.
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"Moments ago, leaders from CPD Action network organizations, members of Congress & more participated in a powerful civil disobedience demonstration & got arrested to protect our RIGHT to SAFE & LEGAL abortions," the dark money group posted on Facebook Tuesday afternoon.
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"This is a clear message to SCOTUS and lawmakers that #WeWontBackDown until ALL pregnancy-abled people are treated as full human beings with the autonomy to make decisions about OUR OWN bodies," the group added.
CPD Action linked to a fundraising page in its Facebook post that prompted activists to "continue acts of civil disobedience," such as the one it coordinated with the 17 arrested members of Congress on Tuesday, to secure access to abortion across the country.
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Ocasio-Cortez was widely criticized by conservative commentators for making the impression that she was handcuffed by police during her arrest. The New York lawmaker was filmed crossing her hands behind her back while she was being escorted off the scene by police. She then pumped her fist toward a crowd of supporters while still detained by police.
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Ocasio-Cortez insisted she wasn't pretending to be in handcuffs during her arrest.
"No faking here," Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet on Wednesday. "Putting your hands behind your back is a best practice while detained, handcuffed or not, to avoid escalating charges like resisting arrest. But given how you lied about a fellow rape survivor for 'points,' as you put it to me, I don't expect much else from you."
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