Politics

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver Abandons The Chair During Arguments On Trump

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Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri abandoned the chair during arguments in the House on Trump’s tweets about four freshmen congresswomen.

The House held a meeting Tuesday to vote on Trump’s “racist” comments. Trump tweeted Sunday that “‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen” should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it’s done.”

The tweets are believed to be about Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. Democrats and Republicans condemned the comments, and the House decided to hold a hearing Tuesday to decide on action regarding the tweets. (RELATED: ‘The Squad’ Takes Turns Hitting Back At Trump During Press Conference)

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“I came in here to try to do this in a fair way, I kept on warning both sides ‘lets not do this,’ hoping we could get through,” Cleaver announced to the floor. “We don’t ever want to pass up, it seems, an opportunity to escalate. And that’s what this is … We want to just fight.”

“I abandon the chair,” Cleaver stated as he put down his gavel and walked out of the room.

Members on the floor looked confused, according to a tweet from HuffPost reporter Matt Fuller.

“From what I could hear, Cleaver said Republicans constantly wanted to escalate the partisanship,” Fuller’s tweet read. “Apparently he finished his short speech by saying, “I abandon the chair.”

The House has been torn for over an hour as Democrats and the parliamentarian try to figure out if the speaker is allowed to call Trump’s comments racist. There is a rule that prevents calling the president a racist, according to Politico reporter Jake Sherman.

North Carolina Rep. GK Butterfield first replaced Cleaver in the chair, according to Sherman’s tweets. Numerous other senior Democratic aides as well as Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer left, Sherman tweeted. Then, Hoyer took the chair.

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