Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., refused to let her colleague Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., answer a question from Gayle King during an interview that aired Wednesday morning.
Tlaib and Ocaiso-Cortez were alongside the two other members of their “squad,” Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., in an interview dedicated to addressing President Trump’s attacks on them. The president told all four members that if they are unhappy with the state of the country their could go back to their native country, despite Omar being the only one to be born outside of the United States.
At one point during the interview King turned to ask Ocasio-Cortez about their public feud with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from a week ago and if they should meet “face-to-face” to talk it out.
“We are new members of Congress — but no. I’m very protective,” Tlaib interjected.
“With all due respect, she doesn’t need protection. I want to know if —,” King said before Tlaib interrupted her.
The Michigan congresswoman said, “She’s the new member not the speaker. She has every right to sit down with her at any moment at any time with any of us. She is speaker of the House. She can ask for a meeting to sit down with us for clarification. The fact of the knowledge is, and I’ve done racial justice work in our country for a long time, acknowledge the fact that we are women of color. So when you do single us out, be aware of that and what you’re doing especially because some of us are getting death threats. Because some of us are being singled out in many ways because of our backgrounds, because of our experiences and so forth. So I think …”
King broke through Tlaib’s diatribe and said, “Alexandria, are you interested in having a conversation face-to-face with” Pelosi.
She answered, “Oh, absolutely.”
