WASHINGTON — Tensions between President Donald Trump and Democrats reached new heights on Tuesday during his State of the Union speech, with both sides clashing over his comments on immigration and allegations of fraud in Minnesota.
Democratic lawmakers shouted at Trump as he talked about a fraud investigation into the Somali community in Minnesota and as he touted his policy on illegal immigration.
“You have killed Americans!” Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib yelled.
The president responded by saying Democrats should be “ashamed.”
‘You should be ashamed!” Omar shouted back at Trump.
“Liar!” Tlaib yelled.
Both Tlaib and Omar continued to heckle Trump.
Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) shouted at Trump during his comments on transgender issues in the country.
“Release the Epstein files,” Tlaib yelled.
Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) held a sign with photos of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti — two U.S. citizens who immigration agents in Minneapolis killed in January.
“Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption, and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception,” Trump said Tuesday.
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was ejected from Trump’s address to Congress. Green was booted from the House floor after he waved a sign that read “Black People Aren’t Apes!” It was a reference to a video Trump posted on social media this month that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers attended or spoke at alternative events. There was a “People’s State of the Union” outdoors on the National Mall, while other Democrats hosted a “State of the Swamp” at the National Press Club near the White House.
The official Democratic response came from Colonial Williamsburg, where Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger hit Trump hard and predicted that voters would reject his administration’s “chaos” in November.
“He’s enriching himself, his family, his friends. The scale of the corruption is unprecedented,” she said. “There’s the cover-up of the Epstein files, the crypto scams, cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes and billionaires for ballrooms, putting his name and face on buildings all over our nation’s capital. This is not what our founders envisioned, not by a long shot.”
