President Biden on Monday is welcoming to the White House Tennessee state representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson, who came to national attention after their protest against gun violence led to attempts by some in their own statehouse to remove them from office — all unsuccessful in the end.
The Republican-led Tennessee legislature voted in favor of expelling Jones and Pearson, and came close to expelling Johnson as well. All three are Democrats. But Jones’s and Pearson’s constituents promptly sent them back to Nashville to fill their own vacant seats. Although Johnson remained in office, she made clear her solidarity with the others in the “Tennessee Three.”
The state lawmakers had led a loud protest on the House floor, disobeying the body’s rules, in reaction to the mass killing at Nashville’s Covenant School. Biden decried the Tennessee legislature’s retaliation against the three.
The event is slated to begin at 3:15 p.m. ET.
Watch the live video above.