Tlaib says mention of Kavanaugh was ‘trigger’ to walk out of Trump speech

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), one of multiple Democrats who walked out of the House chamber Tuesday evening in protest of President Trump’s State of the Union address, says it was his mention of Justice Brett Kavanaugh that did it for her.

Trump sought to tout his accomplishments, including judicial appointments, naming Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch specifically.

“I think, you know, even the mention of Brett Kavanaugh for me is a trigger,” Tlaib said in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “Just as a woman in America, the fact that he, you know, rightfully was accused, and having an incredibly strong woman come before the public and the world and tell her story of sexual assault by this person that was appointed to the Supreme Court is just — I couldn’t stand still and not do anything about it, and I needed to walk away from that.”

Psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her while they were both in high school, giving detailed testimony in 2018 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which voted along party lines to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate, where he was confirmed on Oct. 6 of that year.

Tlaib highlighted that Trump is now a “forever impeached president,” after the House approved two articles of impeachment late last year.

“He cannot continue to lie to the American people. He cannot continue to — not only what I saw in lie after lie, but also to mislead the public and use immigrants and use people of various different faiths to try to increase fear and just use fearmongering kind of politics. Look, we’re tired of the hate rhetoric. We’re tired of [the] divisiveness in our country,” Tlaib said.