Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu apologized Friday for a snarky tweet that mocked President Donald Trump’s trip to storm-ravaged Alabama to meet with tornado victims.
In response to the president’s Friday morning announcement that he was on his way to Alabama, Lieu wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “WE ARE IN THE THIRD WEEK OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY! Can you feel the emergency? Is this why [Trump] is going to Alabama, because we need to build a Wall along Alabama’s southern border? Oh wait, I just looked at the map ….” Lieu concluded his comment with the hashtag, “#FridayMorning Thoughts”.
Twitter screenshot
Lieu later amended his hasty conclusion after taking flak from Twitter users and learning that the president was, in fact, visiting Alabama to meet with Americans who had lost loved ones and property in Sunday’s devastating tornadoes. (RELATED: Trump Signed Bibles In Alabama And People Can’t Handle It)
U.S. President Donald Trump is hugged by a resident who survived a tornado, as First Lady Melania Trump stands by, in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S., March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Theiler
“I have concluded based on Twitter comments I received,” Lieu began, “that my last tweet was inappropriate. I understand the purpose now of the President’s visit to Alabama. I apologize and am going to delete my tweet.”
I have concluded based on Twitter comments I received that my last tweet was inappropriate. I understand the purpose now of the President’s visit to Alabama. I apologize and am going to delete my tweet.
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 8, 2019
Lieu, whose Twitter bio claims he doesn’t “take orders from Putin,” is a frequent and vociferous critic of the Trump administration. Among his attacks, he has accused Vice President Mike Pence of “cloaking [his] hate” in Christianity, called for a criminal investigation of former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, said Justice Brett Kavanaugh is an angry drunk and accused White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders of lying about tax reform. (RELATED: Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu Accuses Pence Of ‘Cloaking Your Hate’ In Christianity)
“You should spend less time tweeting, more time doing your job,” Sanders said in response to Lieu’s accusatory December 2017 tweet, also since deleted.
