Fundraising email calling congresswoman a terrorist was sent in UD student’s name

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 10: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) listens during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on April 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. Seven CEOs of the countrys largest banks were called to testify a decade after the global financial crisis. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 10: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) listens during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on April 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. Seven CEOs of the countrys largest banks were called to testify a decade after the global financial crisis. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)

A fundraising email calling a prominent Democratic congresswoman a “domestic terrorist” was sent in the name of a University of Dayton student.

The email, sent Wednesday, referred to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a terrorist and was sent with the name Tom Ferrall on it. Ferrall is a senior at the University of Dayton and chairman of the Ohio College Republican Federation, Cleveland.com reports.

Ferrell said the email was sent by a third-party fundraising firm without the federation’s knowledge or permission. Ferrall told Cleveland.com that he was unaware the email existed until he saw people tweeting about it.

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The email received widespread criticism online, including from Ocasio-Cortez who posted about it on Twitter.

“This puts me in danger every time. Almost every time this uncalled for rhetoric gets blasted by (conservative groups), we get a spike in death threats to refer to Capitol Police,” the congresswoman tweeted.

Ferrall said he did not know how many people the email was sent to and that he did not know whether anyone made a donation to the college Republican group as a result of the message.

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