Lauren Boebert Defends Heckling Biden's State of the Union: 'I Couldn't Stay Silent'

Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert has defended her actions after she heckled President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address just as he was about to discuss the death of his son.

Boebert was met with boos from her fellow lawmakers after she yelled out in the chamber as Biden was discussing how U.S. troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan suffered severe medical conditions after breathing in toxic smoke emitting from burn pits.

Biden described how as a result of the fumes from the burn pits, many troops developed "a cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin."

The Republican then shouted "You put them in. Thirteen of them," in an apparent reference to the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in a suicide attack at Kabul airport as troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan as it was being retaken by the Taliban last August.

In a tweet after the address, Boebert defended her outburst which received partisan condemnation.

"When Biden said flag-draped coffins I couldn't stay silent. I told him directly he did it. He put 13 in there," Boebert said.

"Our heroic servicemen and women deserve so much better."

Boebert also made reference to Biden's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal in a video she tweeted after Tuesday night's address.

"I just finished listening to a speech by Joe Biden, the weakest and worst president in American history, who has 13 American soldiers dead on his watch," Boebert said.

"Now more than ever, we must reject Biden's 'America last' policies and put America first."

Biden did not appear to react from the outburst from Boebert. He instead paused briefly and then described how one of the U.S. troops who was put in a "flag-drapped coffin" was his son Major Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015 aged 46.

"I don't know for sure if the burn pit that he lived near in Iraq, and earlier than that, in Kosovo, was the cause of his brain cancer, or the diseases of so many of our troops, but I am committed to finding out everything we can," Biden said.

Elsewhere, Boebert's fellow lawmakers on both sides criticized her over the outburst.

Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democratic New York Senator, told NBC News: "Her disruption was inappropriate, especially given the substance of the comments that the President was making at the time, which is to continue this way, which is to protect service members and our veterans."

Republican Indiana Senator Mike Braun added: "It's something that I think that there's a place, that's not the place to do that."

Boebert has been contacted for comment.