Media

Joy Behar defends freshman Dem’s impeachment remarks: ‘I identify with her’

by Joe Concha - 01/04/19 2:14 PM ET

ABC’s Joy Behar is defending a freshman Democratic lawmaker who attacked President Trump by saying she would “impeach the motherf—er.”

“I identify with her because I’m capable of saying something like that off the top of my head at a rally,” Behar said on “The View” about Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

The comments by Behar, a staunch critic of the president, came after a viral video of Tlaib making the provocative comments at a MoveOn.org event Thursday night, hours after she was sworn in to Congress.

{mosads}“People love you and you win,” Tlaib said in the video in which she does not name the president specifically. “And when your son looks at you and says ‘Momma, look, you won. Bullies don’t win.’ And I said, ‘baby, they don’t.’ ”

“Because we’re going to go in there and impeach the motherf—er,” Tlaib added as the crowd erupted in cheers.

Other “View” hosts including two outspoken critics of the president, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro, condemned the language used by Tlaib before Behar shared her perspective on Friday morning.

“You know I have the mouth of a trucker,” said co-host Meghan McCain. “I’m the last person to talk about anyone swearing. I’m also hired to give speeches. And when I give speeches I’m not swearing.”

“[Tlaib] is [part of] an interesting new crop that is representative of the new generation of Democrats which is highly left, highly angry, and I would say obviously using rhetoric that is not in the vein of Michelle Obama,” McCain added.

Tlaib has faced criticism from Republican and some Democratic lawmakers.

After the backlash, Tlaib doubled down on her remarks.

“Congresswoman Tlaib was elected to shake up Washington, not continue the status quo,” Tlaib’s office said in a statement. “Donald Trump is completely unfit to serve as president. The Congresswoman absolutely believes he needs to be impeached. She ran and won by making this very clear to the voters in her district. Donald Trump’s actions have harmed the 13th Congressional District and this country, and Congresswoman Tlaib will not stay quiet while this happens.”

Tlaib also tweeted out Friday, “I will always speak truth to power. #unapologeticallyMe.”