Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee says she is “stunned by the attack on Black women” by the Trump administration.
In a tweet Wednesday, the lawmaker from Texas referred to three black women who have recently found themselves involved in controversies, some more serious than others: White House reporter April Ryan, Rep. Maxine Waters and former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice.
I am stunned by the attack on Black women by the Trump Admin and conservative talking heads: April Ryan, Maxine Waters and now Susan Rice!
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) April 5, 2017
Last month Ryan, who is the Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, clashed with White House press secretary Sean Spicer. At one point, Spicer asked her to “please top shaking your head again.”
Ryan later said she was suspicious of there being a “pattern” of how Spicer treats women in the press and that she would begin “looking more closely.”
Waters became a hot topic last month after Fox News host Bill O’Reilly joked on the air about her hair, which he said looked like a “James Brown wig.”
“I’m a strong black woman and I cannot be intimidated. I cannot be undermined. I cannot be thought to be afraid of Bill O’Reilly or anybody,” Waters said in response to O’Reilly. “And I’d like to say to women out there everywhere, don’t allow these right-wing talking heads, these dishonorable people to intimidate you or scare you.”
This week Rice has been placed under a microscope following a report that she tried to reveal the identities of Trump associates in foreign surveillance reports. During an interview with the New York Times, President Trump was asked about whether he thought Rice committed a crime. “Do I think? Yes, I think,” he said. Trump also characterized the controversy as “one of the big stories of our time.”
Rice maintains she has done nothing improper.
A spokesperson for Rice responded to Trump’s “ludicrous charge” on Wednesday. “I’m not going to dignify the president’s ludicrous charge with a comment,” the spokesperson said, according to NBC.
