Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her ‘squad’ fired back at Donald Trump on Monday, calling on House Democratic leadership to bring impeachment proceedings against him.
But despite a sizable backlash against the President’s earlier rant against the four congresswoman, he unleashed a flurry of tweets during their joint conference to double down on his call for them ‘leave’ the US if they weren’t happy.
While the left-leaning lawmakers addressed reporters, Trump declared that the United States would never bow to socialism and – in a clear swipe – said that ‘certain people hate our country.’
Yet Rep. Ilhan Omar, a frequent target of Trump’s twitter fury, said: ‘We can either continue to enable this president and report on the bile of garbage that comes out of his mouth.
‘Or we can hold him accountable for his crimes. It is time for us to stop allowing this president to make a mockery out of our constitution. It is time for us to impeach this president.’
‘This is the agenda of white nationalist,’ she charged. ‘He would love nothing more than to divide our country based on race, religion, gender orientation or immigration status, because this is the only way he knows he can prevent the solidarity of us working together across all of our differences.’
Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley – or ‘the squad’ as they call themselves – held a joint press conference on Capitol Hill Monday to fire back at the president’s demand they go ‘back where they came from.’
The four members of ‘the squad’ – Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib – fired back at Trump in a press conference on Monday
Rep. Omar said it is time to impeach Trump
They accused the president of racism, promoting a white nationalist agenda and vowed to hold him accountable.
‘Many members of Congress have called for his impeachment because of his utter disregard and disrespect of the United States Constitution and, despite this, and other many attempts to distract us, I remain focused, we remain focused on holding him accountable to the laws of this land and accountable to the American people.
‘I urge House leadership, many of my colleagues to take action to impeach this lawless president today,’ echoed Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who this weekend repeated her call to ‘impeach the m*fer.’
Rep. Ayanna Pressley charged the president with trying to distract the country from the conditions at the border and the detention facility where migrants are being held.
‘This is simply a disruption and a distraction from the countless chaotic and corrupt culture of this administration, all the way down,’ she said.
Ocasio-Cortez shot back at Trump’s charge that the four lawmakers don’t love the country.
‘We love this country. What that means is that we propose the solutions to fix it,’ she said.
Trump made his presence known throughout the lawmakers’ press conference via Twitter
But as the congresswomen addressed reporters, the President renewed his attack of ‘radical left Democrats’ whose open border policies, he claimed, would cripple the the country with crime.
He also accused them of siding with terrorist organisations rather than US ally, Israel, and implied that weren’t willing to appreciate the true horror of the 9/11 attacks.
Trump timed his criticism to coincide with the four lawmakers’ response to an earlier tweet in which the President had suggested they ‘go back from where you came’.
But the four women refused to answer any of the president’s specific charges against them.
The President doubled down on his attack of ‘radical left Democrats’ whose open border policies, he claimed, would cripple the the country with crime
Omar, particularly, has been targeted by Trump has accused of her of being a communist and sympathetic to al Qaeda.
‘I will not dignify it with an answer,’ said Omar, one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
And Ocasio-Cortez said she would not change any past statements – even if her words gave Trump fuel against them.
‘I don’t think it would have changed anything because first of all, he made statements that were blatantly untrue,’ she said. ‘So whether he was citing comments or not citing comments if he didn’t have what he wanted to say he would make tup. This president operates in complete bad faith.’
Trump claimed that moderate Democrats, by sticking by the ‘squad’, were indirectly endorsing a hatred of the US and its ally, Israel
She also argued Trump threw personal attacks at lawmakers because ‘he does not know how to defend his policies.
‘So what he does is attack us personally. And that is what this is all about. He can’t look a child in the face and he can’t look all Americans in the face and justify why this country is throwing them in cages.
‘So instead, he tells us that I should go back to the great borough of the bronx and make it better and that’s what I’m here to do.’
And while the president was the main target of ‘the squad,’ one lawmaker did manage to get in a knock at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s shot at them – that they are just four people.
‘We are more than four people,’ Pressley said. ‘Our squad is big. Our squad includes any person committed to building a more equitable and just world.’
She added: ‘And given the size of this squad and this great nation, we cannot, we will not be silenced.’
It’s was Pelosi’s knock down of the four young liberal members that started a feud between her and the progressive wing but that internecine battle ended when Trump threw himself into the arena.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley charged the president with trying to distract for his policies at the border
Reps. Ilham Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib held a press conference Monday to fight back against the president
Ocasio-Cortez and Omar hug
Shortly before the lawmakers began their press conference on Capitol Hill, the president took to Twitter to get in a last series of jabs – accusing them of being ‘anti-Israel, pro Al-Qaeda’ and wanting a ‘communist country.’
‘We will never be a Socialist or Communist Country. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE! It is your choice, and your choice alone. This is about love for America. Certain people HATE our Country….,’ he wrote in a series of tweets.
‘….They are anti-Israel, pro Al-Qaeda, and comment on the 9/11 attack, “some people did something.” Radical Left Democrats want Open Borders, which means drugs, crime, human trafficking, and much more….,’ he noted.
The Democrat ‘squad’ who are in Trump’s Twitter firing line
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley are four newly-elected congresswomen who are spearheading a radical leftist movement inside the Democratic party.
They have become collectively known as the ‘squad’ and were on the receiving end of President Trump’s latest Twitter rant.
Although they only entered the House this year, these four ‘progressives’ have already made a big impact on Washington politics.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, New York
Background: Known by her initials, AOC was born in The Bronx, New York City, to Puerto Rican parents. Before entering Congress, she worked for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and as a bartender.
Radical policies: AOC was the driving force behind the Green New Deal, which seeks overhaul economic and climate inequality through a raft of public works projects. The cost of these measures have been estimated to but an eye-watering $3.9trillion on the US purse.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Controversies: AOC caused a backlash among Israeli campaign groups for branding the IDF’s response to the 2018 Gaza border flare-ups a ‘massacre’ and labeling Israel’s presence in the West Bank an ‘occupation’.
Ilhan Omar, 36, Minnesota
Background: Omar was born and raised in Somalia by her father after her mother died when she was two. They fled the country to escape civil war and she arrived in New York when she was 10. She was one of two Muslim women to be the first elected to Congress in 2018.
Radical policies: Omar has called for a significant reduction in military spending and ‘perpetual aggression’. She also supports free tuition fees for college students.
Ilhan Omar
Controversies: Earlier this year, she was reported to have said ‘some people did something’ in regards to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, prompting a backlash from Trump.
Ayanna Pressley, 45, Massachusetts
Background: Born in Ohio but raised in Chicago, Pressley went on to serve as Secretary of State John Kerry’s political director.
Radical policies: Like most of the ‘squad’ Pressley supports Medicare for all by ramping up taxes.
Controversies: Is one of the leading advocates of impeaching the President.
Rashida Tlaib, 31, Michigan
Background: Born in Detroit to working class parents from Palestine, Tlaib entered the Michigan state House before being one of the first Muslim women elected to the US Congress.
Radical policies: She has called for the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency to be abolished and wants a $15 per hour minimum wage.
‘….Detention facilities are not Concentration Camps! America has never been stronger than it is now – rebuilt Military, highest Stock Market EVER, lowest unemployment and more people working than ever before. Keep America Great!,’ he concluded.
One of Trump’s key allies, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, today intervened in the row by branding the President’s comments ‘reprehensible’.
He told BBC’s Today: ‘I don’t see the President as a racist, but here’s the thing, if you continue to say and act in that manner then we have to say, maybe you weren’t a racist, but maybe you’re turning into one.
‘What he said over the weekend, I think was reprehensible and Republican elected leaders that can’t call it for what it is, shame on them.’
Scaramucci also accused senior White House advisors of being too ‘afraid’ to confront the President.
Earlier Monday Trump advised the progressive Democrats who don’t like the way he’s running the country that they can move somewhere else, as he upped the ante against four Democratic representatives.
Trump said the legislators should ‘go back where they came from’ in a controversial message on Sunday that the women are blasting as racist.
He didn’t say who he was talking about, but it was inferred that he tweaking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the members of her ‘squad,’ including American-born Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley but also Somali-American legislator Ilhan Omar.
He suggested Monday that the women are communists and denied that he was making a racist attack on them.
Responding to a question from DailyMail.com, he at first declined to name names on Monday, but hit Omar by name.
‘Well I don’t mention – I didn’t mention names. And I didn’t do that,’ he said.
He proceeded to say they should leave, if they don’t like it America, as other reporters chimed in to ask where the women, all of whom but Omar, who were born in American should go.
‘If you’re not happy here then you can leave. As far as I’m concerned, if you hate our country, if you’re not happy here, you can leave. And that’s what I say all the time,’ he said. ‘That’s what I said in a tweet, which I guess some people think it’s controversial.’
President Donald Trump says progressive Democrats who don’t like the way he’s running the country can move somewhere else, as he upped the ante against four Democratic representatives, who are also women of color, that he’s been clashing with on Twitter
Trump mocked reporters at the end of the event for asking about the controversy – but he came prepared with notes on Rep. Ilhan Omar, who he attacked for saying that ‘some people did something’ on 9/11 in previous comments
He added, ‘A lot of people love it, by the way. A lot of people love it. But if you’re not happy in the U.S., if you’re complaining all the time, very simply, you can leave. You can leave right now. Come back if you want, don’t come back, it’s okay too. But if you’re not happy you can leave.’
Naming Oma the president referenced the Muslim congresswoman’s nationality and claimed she’s anti-Semitic.
‘When I hear the statements that they’ve made, and in come case you have somebody that comes from Somalia – which is a failed government, a failed state – who left Somalia, who ultimately came here, and now is a congresswoman who’s never happy, says horrible things about Israel. Hates Jews. Hates Jews!’ he claimed.
He ripped Ocasio-Cortez as he continued to explain himself, saying, ‘It’s very simple. And if the Democrats want to wrap their bows around this group of four people – one of them kept Amazon out of New York. Tens of thousands of jobs, would have been a great thing, and she kept Amazon from going.
‘Would have been a great deal. I mean, could he have made better? Maybe. But tens of thousands of jobs, and New York has not been the same since that happened. It’s really hurt New York and New York City. Amazon was going to go, they were going to relocate a major section of their business to New York. She kept them out! That was a terrible thing she did. A terrible thing she did.’
Trump continued to unload on the women, bringing up remarks that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham made on ‘Fox & Friends’ earlier that morning about them.
‘Even stronger than what I’m saying. He said they’re Communists. I’m saying, I’m saying that they’re socialists, definitely. As to whether or not they’re Communists, I would think they might be.’
The president did not respond to a question from DailyMail.com in response to the claim about whether he’s saying that Ocasio-Cortez is a communist.
Tlaib had again vowed on Saturday to ‘impeach the M-fer’ at a progressive event, infuriating the Republican president. It turned into an all-out brawl from there, with Trump attacking the women on Twitter, and the legislators slapping back.
It continued into Monday, with the president tweeting about the women, and then attacking them at a South Lawn event, where he was promoting American-made products.
‘When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said. So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions!,’ he wrote on Twitter.
‘If Democrats want to unite around the foul language & racist hatred spewed from the mouths and actions of these very unpopular & unrepresentative Congresswomen, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. I can tell you that they have made Israel feel abandoned by the U.S.,’ he added.
Trump’s latest volley could be a reaction to Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (left) promise to impeach him and Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (right) perceived attacks on Israel
Nancy Pelosi announcedHouse Democrats are composing a resolution condemning President Trump ‘s tweets
Trump and several Democratic members of Congress entered a Twitter war this weekend when the president demanded Representative Ilhan Omar and some of her colleagues ‘go back where they came from.’
His attack was seen as directed at Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Alyanna Pressley and Rashid Tlaib – four young, progressive lawmakers who took office in January after winning in the 2018 wave election that gave back control of the House of Representatives to Democrats.
Pelosi announced Monday House Democrats are composing a resolution condemning President Trump’s tweets against the lawmakers.
The speaker indicated there will be a vote soon in the chamber, a move designed to put Republicans on the record about their feelings on the president’s tweets after few GOP lawmakers, thus far, have defended him.
No timing was indicated but Pelosi announced the forthcoming resolution in a letter to colleagues on Monday.
‘The House cannot allow the President’s characterization of immigrants to our country to stand. Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the President’s xenophobic tweets. Please join us in supporting a forthcoming resolution sponsored by Congressman Tom Malinowski, who was born abroad, and Congressman Jamie Raskin, along with other Democratic Members born abroad,’ she noted in her letter.
Trump was accused of a racist attack against the lawmakers, of whom only Omar was born overseas. She and her family fled war in Somalia and she is now a U.S. citizen. The rest of the lawmakers were born in the United States.
He has not backed down and opened his new line of attack on Monday, in what could be a reaction to Tlaib’s promise to impeach him and Omar’s perceived attacks on Israel.
Omar and Tlaib are the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
Shortly after she took office, a video emerged of Tlaib at a MoveOn.org event in January, vowing of Trump: ‘We’re going to impeach the motherf***er!’
She reiterated that promise on Saturday when she addressed the liberal Netroots Nation conference.
‘We’re going to to impeach the m*fer, don’t worry. We’re going to impeach him,’ she said to applause.
Tlaib’s fury at Trump came after she and other Democratic lawmakers visited migrant detention facilities on the border and slammed the president for the condition immigrations were being held in.
‘As a nation, we need to realize, we’re going to look back at this moment as a very, very dark time. We are. Not only because of who is in the White House, but more importantly because of the policies, and we’re going to look back and say, what did we do, as a nation to push against this,’ the Michigan Democrat warned at Saturday’s conference for progressives.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has slammed Trump for the treatment of migrants held in detention centers at the border; above, Tliab (center) testifies on the issue with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (left) and Ayanna Pressley (right) after their visit to the border
Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley hae dubbed themselves ‘the squad’
‘This is a whole generation of children who will never forget what our nation did to them. They will never forget the trauma.’
And Omar set off a fire storm in February with her suggestion that the Israel lobby was using its resources to buy off supporters.
‘It’s all about the Benjamins,’ she tweeted about the influential group.
She later apologized for her remarks, which critics said were anti-Semitic, and acknowledged that they were wrong.
And, in March, she appeared to minimize the September 11 attacks when she noted a Muslim group was formed in its wake ‘because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.’
An experienced Democratic operative told DailyMail.com that the president was angering Speaker Nancy Pelosi and ramping up his base at the same time.
‘Trump has figured out how to piss off Nancy and get his base agitated at the same time. It’s like a sinister chess game where he’s trying to move both side’s pieces,’ the operative said.
The president hasn’t let up.
In a Twitter rant Sunday night, Trump doubled down on his attacks and claimed the Democratic lawmakers hate Israel, an accusation that will likely incite fury among the GOP base.
‘So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak so badly of our Country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion,’ he wrote.
But Trump’s attacks united Pelosi and the members of ‘the squad’ in their outrage against the president.
It was a show of unity after the speaker and the four got into a feud of their own.
Earlier this month ‘the squad’ all voted against the $4.6 billion Republican border bill that would provide aide to the border, including migrant detention centers.
Pelosi backed the bill and helped get it through the House after several reports emerged of the horrific conditions migrants faced at certain centers along the border that hold those who crossed the border illegally.
Ocasio-Cortez ranted against the bill on Twitter even as it ultimately passed.
The speaker fired back.
‘All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,’ Pelosi told The New York Times. ‘But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.’
She also lectured Democrats in a closed-door meeting in the Capitol about fighting their battles on social media.
‘You got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it. But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just ok,’ Pelosi said during the meeting, according to a source in the room.
But after Trump’s remarks on Sunday, Pelosi jumped at the opportunity to defend the four congresswomen
Then Ocasio-Cortez, in an explosive interview with The Washington Post, accused the speaker of “the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.’
Several black lawmakers defended Pelosi and slammed the liberal New York lawmaker for whining about not getting her way but the internecine battle within the party became forgotten when the president stepped in.
‘Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,’ Trump wrote on Twitter of ”Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen’ on Sunday. ‘Then come back and show us how it is done.’
‘These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!,’ he added.
But the speaker promptly defended her members of Congress.
‘When [Trump] tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again,” Pelosi tweeted. “Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power.’
And the lawmakers fought back themselves.
Ocasio-Cortez led the defense of her squad.
Reps. Ilham Omar and Rashida Tlaib are the first Muslim women elected to Congress
‘Mr. President, the country I “come from,” & the country we all swear to, is the United States. But given how you’ve destroyed our border with inhumane camps, all at a benefit to you & the corps who profit off them, you are absolutely right about the corruption laid at your feet,’ she tweeted.
‘You are angry because you don’t believe in an America where I represent New York 14, where the good people of Minnesota elected @IlhanMN, where @RashidaTlaib fights for Michigan families, where @AyannaPressley champions little girls in Boston,’ she added.
The squad members also had words for the president.
‘Yo @realDonaldTrump, I am fighting corruption in OUR country. I do it every day when I hold your admin accountable as a U.S. Congresswoman. Detroit taught me how to fight for the communities you continue to degrade & attack. Keep talking, you’ll be out of the WH soon,’ Tlaib tweeted in response.
Pressley wrote: ‘THIS is what racism looks like. WE are what democracy looks like. And we’re not going anywhere. Except back to DC to fight for the families you marginalize and vilify everyday.’
And Omar tweeted: ‘Mr. President, As Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States. Which is why we are fighting to protect it from the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen.’
Omar and her family came to the United States in the early 1990s to escape the war in Somalia. She became a citizen in 2000 when she was 17 years old.
Tlaib is the daughter of two Palestinian immigrants and Ocasio-Cortez’s mother is from Puerto Rico. Tlaib was born in Detroit while Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx borough of New York City.
Pressley is the first African American woman elected to Congress to represent Massachusetts. She was born in Cincinnati.