Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declined to apologize for telling a crowd hours after she was sworn into Congress Thursday that "we're gonna go in there and we're going to impeach the motherf***er," referring to President Donald Trump. Tlaib received widespread backlash for her comments, including from some Democrats, but writing on Twitter Friday morning, she said she had no regrets.
"I will always speak truth to power," she wrote, followed by the hashtag "#unapologeticallyMe."
I will always speak truth to power. #unapologeticallyMe
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 4, 2019
She expanded on her thoughts in a subsequent tweet.
"This is not just about Donald Trump. This is about all of us. In the face of this constitutional crisis, we must rise," she wrote.
Tlaib's office echoed her message in a statement.
"Congresswoman Tlaib was elected to shake up Washington, not to continue the status quo. Donald Trump is completely unfit to serve as President," the statement read. "The Congresswoman absolutely believes he needs to be impeached. She ran by making this very clear to the voters in her district. Donald Trump's actions have harmed the 13th Congressional District and she will not stay silent while this happens."
Rep. Tlaib office statement on her "impeach the motherf****r" remark pic.twitter.com/OumTV6MPqQ
— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) January 4, 2019
Tlaib's comments came at an event sponsored by the progressive group MoveOn, where she recounted a conversation with her son about the president.
"And when your son looks at you and says, 'Mama, look, you won. Bullies don't win,' and I said, 'Baby, they don't,' because we're gonna go in there and we're going to impeach the motherf***er," she said in a video that was posted on Twitter.
The speech followed an op-ed the representative from Michigan penned earlier in the day for the Detroit Free Press, in which she said, "We already have overwhelming evidence that the president has committed impeachable offenses."
The issue of impeachment has been a divisive one for Democrats. Newly elected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with other leaders, has tried to take impeachment off the table, but others say that regardless of the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, Trump has already done more than enough to warrant at least the start of a process to remove him from office. On Thursday, the first day of the new Congress, Representative Brad Sherman of California introduced additional articles of impeachment against the president.
New House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler pushed back on Tlaib's comments.
"I don't really like that kind of language," Nadler told CNN on Friday. "More to the point, I disagree with what she said. It is too early to talk about [impeachment] intelligently… We have to get the facts, and we'll see where the facts lead."
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