Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., on Wednesday hit back at reports he “stormed out” of President Trump’s inaugural State of the Union address, labelling them as “completely false” and “spin.”
“There is a story going around that I ‘stormed out’ of the President’s speech last night which is completely false. That I boycotted the speech or protested by leaving during an applause break is just someone’s spin,” Gutierrez wrote on Twitter.
“I was due on TV for an interview and the speech was running late. I waited until the President stopped talking and walked to the back and watched the last 90-seconds on TV (after sitting for 80 minutes). Then went to my interview. Those are the facts,” he added.
I was due on TV for an interview and the speech was running late. I waited until the President stopped talking and walked to the back and watched the last 90-seconds on TV (after sitting for 80 minutes). Then went to my interview. Those are the facts. https://t.co/Gq3oKwTe1O
— Luis V. Gutierrez (@RepGutierrez) January 31, 2018
Gutierrez did appear on MSNBC after Trump’s State of the Union.
Following his departure from the House of Representatives chamber, where a joint session of Congress is traditionally convened, Gutierrez also released a statement saying he had been “hoping to get through my life without having to witness an outwardly, explicitly racist American President.”
“My luck ran out,” he wrote.
Democrats have been criticized for their response to Trump’s address, deemed by many pundits as a call for bipartisanship in Washington, D.C.
For example, Trump’s speech was interrupted with “boos” when he broached the topic of chain migration.
In addition, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Wednesday that Democrats were wrong to sit sullenly for most of the State of the Union, adding that mild protest showed a lack of respect to the presidency.
