Tlaib vows to do ‘better’ after booing Clinton at Sanders event

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Saturday vowed to do “better” and urged Democrats to unite around whoever wins the party’s 2020 nomination after she was seen booing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a campaign event for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“I am so incredibly in love with the movement that our campaign of #NotMeUs has created. This makes me protective over it and frustrated by attempts to dismiss the strength and diversity of our movement,” Tlaib said in a statement, referring to Sanders’s campaign. 

“However, I know what is at stake if we don’t unify over one candidate to beat Trump and I intend to do everything possible to ensure that Trump does not win in 2020,” she continued. “In this instance, I allowed my disappointment with Secretary Clinton’s latest comments about Senator Sanders and his supporters get the best of me.”

“You all, my sisters-in-service on stage, and our movement deserve better,” she added.

“However, I know what is at stake if we don’t unify over one candidate to beat Trump and I intend to do everything possible to ensure that Trump does not win in 2020. (2/4)

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) February 1, 2020

The statement from Tlaib, a staunch progressive and prominent campaign surrogate for the Vermont senator, is the latest development in the recently revived feud between Clinton and Sanders. 

Clinton raised eyebrows in recent weeks with salvos against the senator, who waged an insurgent campaign against her in the 2016 Democratic primary.

“He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him. Nobody wants to work with him. He got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney, and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it,” Clinton said in an interview.

“All the way up until the end, a lot of people highly identified with his campaign were urging people to vote third party, urging people not to vote,” she added in another interview Friday on the podcast “Your Primary Playlist.” “It had an impact.”

Clinton supporters have long maintained that Sanders took too long after losing the nomination to back the former secretary of State, damaging her ability to unify the party around her candidacy. Sanders has noted that he appeared at several campaign events for Clinton heading into the 2016 general election, and he recently pushed back on her remarks about his likability, saying, “This is not the kind of rhetoric that we need.”

The remarks from Clinton sparked concerns from progressives that the party’s former nominee, who is seen as still holding sway over moderate voters, may not back Sanders should he emerge as the party’s pick to go against President Trump this year.

Clinton later clarified that she would back whoever wins the Democratic nomination, though some Sanders supporters, including Tlaib, have continued to blast her earlier comments.

Tlaib rebuked Clinton on Friday when asked about the remarks at a campaign event in Iowa, just days before Monday’s caucuses. Sanders has enjoyed a recent polling surge heading into the contest.

“I’ll boo. Boo,” Tlaib interjected. “You all know I can’t be quiet.” 

“The haters will shut up on Monday when we win,” she added.

Rashida Tlaib booing Hillary Clinton pic.twitter.com/Wj6bIDfhy3

— Ibrahim (@ibrahimpols) February 1, 2020

In her statement Saturday, Tlaib insisted that she “will continue to strive to come from a place of love and not react in the same way of those who are against what we are building in this country.”

“This is about building a just and equitable future for my two boys, children across the country, and future generations,” she added.