A handful of Democrats walked out of the chamber in the middle of President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday.
Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) hammered the president in statements when explaining their decision to leave the address early.
“I just walked out of the #StateOfTheUnion. I’ve had enough. It’s like watching professional wrestling. It’s all fake,” Ryan tweeted.
“I just walked out of the #StateOfTheUnion. I can’t stand a liar. This man’s presidency is a national tragedy,” Pascrell tweeted.
House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) was also seen leaving the House chamber during the speech and the seats for Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) were empty before the address was finished.
Tlaib later explained that Trump’s remarks regarding food stamps were “beneath the dignity of the office he occupies” and McGovern said the president “turned the State of the Union into a campaign rally.”
Omar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The State of the Union address came at a time of heightened tension on Capitol Hill in the midst of the Senate’s impeachment trial and at the outset of an election year in which several members of the upper chamber are running for the chance to challenge the president in November.