ADVERTISEMENT

ARIZONA NEWS

Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona explains why she walked out of Trump’s speech

Democratic U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona walked out of President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night.

Watch: Paul Calvisi on Cardinals' preseason standouts and Larry Fitzgerald’s Hall of Fame legacy | 8 mins

PHOENIX – Democratic U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona walked out of President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday night, saying she was “absolutely devastated” by his rhetoric.

“I couldn’t hear any more of it,” the former Phoenix City Council member said in a video recorded after she left the House floor.

Ansari, the House Democratic freshman class president, brought DACA recipient Yadira Garcia, a teacher from her district whose parents brought her to the U.S. a child without documentation, as her guest to the speech.

ADVERTISEMENT

What did Rep. Yassamin Ansari say after walking out of Trump speech?

“I’m absolutely devastated by the bulls– I just heard, everything from incessant dehumanizing of immigrants, to trans people to the LGBTQ+ community to outright lies about who is going to benefit from the tax cuts to come, and the fact that Republicans are cutting Medicaid for so many of my constituents,” Ansari said in her video.

During his speech, Trump said he wants to ban gender-affirming surgery for minors.

“I want Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body,” he said.

In her video, Ansari noted that she was wearing a “Protect Trans Kids” pin on her lapel.

“Very unfortunate to see the president of the United States talk about and scapegoat so many of my constituents in Arizona’s third district,” she said.

Ansari wasn’t the only Democrat to leave Trump’s speech early. Texas Rep. Al Green was escorted out of the House chamber after shouting objections while the president was speaking and refusing to sit back down.

Several other Democrats chose not to attend, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) and Sens. Martin Heinrich (New Mexico) and Patty Murray (Washington).

Kevin Stone KTAR.com Senior Editor

Kevin Stone is KTAR's Senior Web Content Editor. He is a seasoned journalist who was born in New York and grew up in Phoenix. He got his start doing agate for the Mesa Tribune sports section in the 1990s while completing his print journalism degree.… Read more

Comments

202 Comments

What-A-Rush
What-A-Rush 1 year ago

Oh, I completely agree D that Garland ultimately screwed that whole thing up--- no argument there. The prosecutors were completely incompetent.

Likewise, the defendants' consistently delaying the other cases was a huge factor as well. All they had to do was cry "bias". And it worked.

Silenced Dogood
Silenced Dogood 1 year ago

At least he's consistent.

D Richardson
D Richardson 1 year ago

One more thing. Biden often told us that the economy was failing when only the airlines and hospitality and leisure were failing. Those 2 segments amount to 17% of the total economy. Throwing money out in every direction was not necessary. Help was only needed in those 2 sectors. Had that been done, there would have been no inflation like we experienced. The only problems that was never addressed were the numerous hiccups in the global supply chains. Biden never gave that a look or did anything to lessen the problem. That hurt and helped fire up future inflation as he distributed the unnecessary giveaways. Our inflation was avoidable. Now it's sticking around. Trump's tariffs will only add to it.