Tlaib says Trump wanted ‘to distract us’ with attacks on squad

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said in an interview with the podcast “Authentically Detroit” that President Trump’s recent attacks on her and three other progressive first-term congresswomen were intended “to distract us.” 

Tlaib argued that while Trump is escalating attacks on her, as well as on Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), he is also “behind the scenes trying to change asylum laws.”

{mosads}“He’s also behind the scenes trying to disenfranchise communities of color by deregulating the [Environmental Protection Agency],” Tlaib added, also citing Trump’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the U.S. census. “There are things being done right now to distract us.”

Tlaib added that it was “unbelievable” that she was not being asked about specific legislation such as a bill recently passed by the House to double the minimum wage to $15.

The congresswoman, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, also addressed the “squad” nickname applied to the four and repeated a sentiment from her address to the NAACP’s national convention, saying, “If you’re for equity and justice, then you are the squad too.”

Tlaib also reaffirmed her support for impeachment, noting the 95 members who recently voted for articles of impeachment in the House.

“This is not only a failed presidency. It’s the fact that this hate agenda, this lawless approach is seeping into policymaking,” she said, citing recent votes to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt.

Impeachment, Tlaib said, was not a distraction or a separate issue from her job as a member of Congress because “you can’t ask us to do our job as a coequal branch of government if this president thinks himself above the law.”