Tlaib blasts arrests of pro-impeachment protesters on Capitol Hill
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Tuesday criticized the arrests of protesters on Capitol Hill who called on lawmakers to start impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
Eight individuals were arrested by the Capitol Police in the Cannon House Office Building on Tuesday morning and charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, a Capitol Police spokeswoman told The Hill.{mosads}
Tlaib, who has been one of the most vocal liberals pushing for Trump’s impeachment, responded to a tweet from By the People, an activist group calling for impeachment that organized the protests. The freshman congresswoman called the arrests “ridiculous.”
“This is ridiculous. This is the people’s House and they have every right to demand accountability of this lawless President,” Tlaib tweeted.
This is ridiculous. This is the people’s House and they have every right to demand accountability of this lawless President. https://t.co/BEbSvELtwF
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 14, 2019
“This is how we take back our democracy. When the people lead, Congress and those in power will follow. Today, I uplift the brave fighters who are demanding accountability of this lawless President. Our future and country depend on it,” Tlaib added in another tweet along with the hashtag #TimetoImpeach.
The protests come after a coalition of liberal activist groups held a rally with Tlaib and Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) outside the Capitol last Thursday to highlight a petition with more than 10 million signatures calling for Congress to start impeachment proceedings.
“We are a part of the millions of Americans who support impeachment. Trump can and will only be impeached by the people. The political establishment – from both parties want to wait out the clock. They put party before country, and political calculations over their oaths of office. Today we say no more, Congress you are on notice – it is #TimeToImpeach,” Alexandra Flores-Quilty, an organizer with By the People, said in a statement.
Tlaib introduced a resolution in late March calling on the House Judiciary Committee to inquire whether the chamber should impeach Trump.
It currently has seven co-sponsors, most of whom signed on following the release of a partially redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s election interference and whether Trump obstructed justice over the course of the investigation.
Cosponsors of Tlaib’s resolution include Green and fellow liberal freshman Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.).
Tlaib has long supported impeaching Trump, including on her first day in office in January when she rallied a crowd by saying “we’re going to impeach the motherf—er.”
But Democratic leaders have been reluctant to pursue impeachment and have instead sought to continue aggressively investigating the Trump administration.
When asked last week about Democratic leaders’ continued resistance to impeachment, Tlaib replied by referencing last week’s petition: “Getting 10 million signatures makes me feel like I’m the right side of history.”
Tlaib, one of the first Muslim women and the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress, has also been under scrutiny in recent days for invoking the Holocaust while discussing the Palestinian role in the founding of Israel.
President Trump and House Republicans have accused Tlaib of making anti-Semitic remarks, while Democrats defended her by saying her words were taken out of context.
“There’s always kind of a calming feeling, I tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors — Palestinians — who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports,” Tlaib said in an interview with Yahoo News’s “Skullduggery” podcast.
“And just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time,” Tlaib added. “And I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways. But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away, and it was forced on them.”
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