New Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Thursday vowed to take on President Trump hours after she was sworn in to office, saying before a crowd of supporters, “We’re going to go in and impeach the mothef—er.”
The comments from Tlaib came hours after she was sworn in to Congress and on the same day she had an op-ed published in the Detroit Free Press calling for Trump’s impeachment.
A video of Tlaib making the comments circulated Thursday night. She did not specifically name the president.
{mosads}“People love you and you win,” Tlaib said on the video. “And when your son looks at you and says ‘Momma, look you won. Bullies don’t win.’ And I said, ‘Baby, they don’t.’ ”
“Because we’re going to go in there and impeach the motherf—er,” Tlaib said, handing the microphone over to someone else as the crowd erupted in cheers.
The Michigan Democrat doubled down on her remarks on Friday morning, saying she was “#unapologeticallyMe.”
“This is not just about Donald Trump,” she wrote. “This is about all of us. In the face of this constitutional crisis, we must rise.”
Tlaib, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, frequently pushed for Trump’s impeachment during her campaign.
“I keep telling people this is about electing a jury that will impeach him, and I make a heck of a juror,” Tlaib told The Hill in April.
In her op-ed, co-written by Trump impeachment advocate John Bonifaz, Tlaib wrote that there was a distinction between “the power of a criminal prosecution” and “the impeachment power.”
“While Congress has the impeachment power to prevent future harm to our government, prosecutors have the power to seek punishment for those who commit crimes,” Tlaib and Bonifaz wrote.
“Those who say we must wait for Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller to complete his criminal investigation before Congress can start any impeachment proceedings ignore this crucial distinction,” the article continues.
The newly elected Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told USA Today on Thursday that she does not intend to seek grounds for impeachment unless it’s “clearly bipartisan.”
“The facts will indicate a path and I don’t think we should impeach a president for any political reason, but I don’t think we can ignore any behavior that requires attention and that was all based on the facts,” Pelosi said.
Updated at 9:25 a.m.