Progressive Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) is reportedly dating left-wing YouTuber Jack Cocchiarella, who is 10 years younger than the congresswoman.
The pair met in spring 2025, when Cocchiarella, 24, interviewed Ansari, 34. They have been seeing each other for several months, TMZ reported Thursday.
Ansari declined to comment on the reported relationship, instead directing her remarks toward President Trump and the US’s seven-month war in Iran.
“I’m not commenting on my personal life, nor is it anyone’s business. Right now, ICE is terrorizing communities across the country with zero accountability, and Trump’s reckless war in Iran continues raging on,” she told the outlet.
“I’m focused on helping to flip the House so we can pass meaningful legislation — that’s what we should all be focused on,” she added.
Cocchiarella likewise declined to discuss his personal life.
Ansari, a first-term Democrat representing Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, was born in Seattle to Iranian immigrant parents and raised in Arizona.
She studied at Stanford University and, in 2012, interned at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district office in San Francisco, according to Roll Call.
Ansari made history in 2024 when she became the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress after winning her Arizona seat.
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The congresswoman has also faced scrutiny over unsubstantiated claims concerning alleged ties to Iran.
In April, an online petition signed by more than 13,000 people called for an investigation into alleged “undisclosed foreign lobbying and ties” involving Ansari and Iran.
The petition featured a doctored image depicting Ansari in a turban and offered no evidence to support the alleged connections.
Ansari dismissed the allegations as “hateful rhetoric, lies, cruel and deliberate misinformation” in a statement to The Post.
She called the suggestion that she has ties to the Iranian regime an “outright lie.”
Cocchiarella, a Winter Park, Fla., native, first gained widespread attention as a student activist at Dartmouth College, where he publicly confronted conservative figures, including former Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
In 2022, Cocchiarella faced multiple sexual assault allegations at Dartmouth, according to the Columbia Spectator.
He later sued a former classmate over online allegations that he had raped and sexually assaulted women. The lawsuit was settled, and Cocchiarella has denied wrongdoing, the New Hampshire Journal reported in 2023.
Cocchiarella transferred from Dartmouth to Columbia University in 2022, where he earned a degree in political science while working as a digital consultant for Democratic campaigns.
He has since developed a substantial online audience, surpassing 1.6 million YouTube subscribers. His interview subjects have included prominent Democrats such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
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