House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was briefly banned from speaking on the House floor on Tuesday after she made disparaging comments about President Trump’s ‘racist’ behavior, sparking chaos in the chamber.
GOP lawmakers fumed after Pelosi slammed Trump as “xenophobic” for a Sunday tweet in which he told progressive Democrats to “go back” and “fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
“How shameful to hear him continue to defend those offensive words, words that we have all heard him repeat, not only about our members, but about countless others,” said Pelosi, adding “”There is no place anywhere for the president’s words, which are not only divisive but dangerous, and have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”
In response to Pelosi’s comments, Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) claimed that her remarks violated House rules forbidding personal attacks against the president or lawmakers.
After Collins asked Pelosi if she would like to rephrase her comments, Pelosi said she had cleared them with the parliamentarian in advance.
“I would like to make a point of order that the gentlewoman’s words are unparliamentary and ask they be taken down,” Collins said.
Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), who was presiding over the floor then reminded members “to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president.” –The Hill
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat, said “The words used by the gentlewoman from California contained an accusation of racist behavior on the part of the President,” adding “The words should not be used in debate.
Hoyer’s comments technically banned Pelosi from speaking on the House floor for the rest of the day, while the debate over Pelosi’s comments caused the House to come to a standstill as lawmakers debated what to do next.
Rep. Cleaver dramatically ‘abandoned the chair’ and dropped the gavel on the dais while the situation unfolded.
Rep. Cleaver: “We don’t ever, ever want to pass up, it seems, an opportunity to escalate, and that’s what this is. I dare anybody to look at any of the footage and see if there was any unfairness. But unfairness is not enough, because we want to just fight. I abandon the chair.” pic.twitter.com/pvfJL54kw1
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 16, 2019
Ultimately, Pelosi’s comments were allowed to stand after a motion to strike her comments failed 190-232. Every Republican voted in favor of the motion.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2lhnfde Tyler Durden