COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., declined on Friday to condemn Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., for calling President Trump a “motherfucker” who would soon be impeached.
When reporters pressed her on whether Democrats should condemn Tlaib’s comment, Warren said only that Democrats need to wait until special counsel Robert Mueller issues his full report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“I think it is absolutely essential that we protect the Mueller investigation,” Warren said. “The special prosecutor has already produced more than two-dozen indictments or guilty pleas. Our job in Congress is to protect that investigation and we need bipartisan legislation to do that.”
“Mueller needs to be able to complete his investigation and make a full report to the American people, and I think that’s what we’re going to do,” Warren added.
When asked again whether the comment should be condemned, Warren again referred back to the Mueller investigation.
“I think what we’re in this fight for is to get the facts, and the way that’s going to happen is for Mueller to be fully protected and to complete his investigation and make a report to the American people,” Warren said. “I think that’s the heart of it.”
Warren was hosting her first event of a three-day swing in the Hawkeye State.
Tlaib made waves after video emerged of comments she made at a MoveOn.org event after the 116th Congress convened and Democrats took back the House.
“’Mama, look, you won. Bullies don’t win,'” Tlaib told the crowd, quoting what her son told her. “Baby, they don’t. Because we’re gonna go in there, we’re gonna impeach the motherfucker.”
The Michigan Democrat declined to take questions from members of the press on Capitol Hill Friday morning, though she released a statement backing up her call for impeachment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Friday that Tlaib’s remarks were “nothing worse than the president has said” and added she is “not in the censorship business.”
“I don’t like that language,” Pelosi went on. “I wouldn’t use that language, but I wouldn’t establish language standards for my colleagues.”
