House Republicans are calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to reprimand Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for using profanity while referring to President Trump.
Shortly after being sworn into office on Thursday, Tlaib told a group of supporters: “We’re going to go in and impeach the motherf—er.”
{mosads}“She has a freshman, incoming individual that uses that type of language that has a determination of what she’s going to do with no facts or basis,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Friday at a press conference. “I think this is a role as a leader and Speaker to have a conversation with this member on whether she approves of this or not.”
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) didn’t specify what type of disciplinary action he thinks should be taken, but said the language needs to be addressed by Democratic leaders.
“She’s got to make that decision. I’m surely not one to tell Nancy Pelosi what to do, but I think it’s a real test for her, how she responds to this. And it will continue happening if she doesn’t address the problem,” he told reporters Friday. “How was she going to stand up to the most radical-left elements of her party when they become unhinged? And it didn’t take long. Literally, on the first day it happened. That’s going to be a test for her and her Speakership.”
When asked about her reaction to Tlaib’s comment, Pelosi said Friday that she’s “not in the censorship business.”
“I probably have a generational reaction to it, but in any event, I’m not in the censorship business,” Pelosi said in an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Friday.
“I don’t like that language. I wouldn’t use that language,” Pelosi said in an interview on MSNBC. “But I don’t think it’s anything worse than what the president has said.”
House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) dismissed previous allegations that Republicans have not stood up to the president when he’s used profanity or fiery language in the past, arguing rhetoric and name-calling has intensified over the course of the past 24 hours. The Wyoming Republican argued the language sets a tone of “politicization and partisanship” at the start of the 116th Congress.
“You have seen over the last 24 hours very foul language,” she said. “I think any comparisons to Hitler and Nazi-ism are absolutely outrageous.”
McCarthy said the rhetoric and immediate calls for impeachment make him question whether the “House majority going to be serious about anything.”
“We watched a new freshman stand up, use this language, get cheered by their base. And we watched a brand new Speaker say nothing to her,” he said. “That is not the body of what we serve in and that action should not stand. Somebody should stand up to it. She’s the Speaker — that individual serves at her caucus. I would hope that if she wouldn’t, others in her caucus would.”