Congressman Al Green of Texas removed from Trump’s speech amid protest
Washington – President Trump’s Address of the Joint Congress Rep. Al Green, a Democrat in Texas, quickly stumbled Tuesday night when Mr. Trump began to touting his victory in the 2024 election. Green was soon escorted from the indoor conference hall to accompany him.
Who is Al Green?
Green, 77, represents a district in Houston, Texas since 2005.
Texas Democrats had previously urged to remove Mr. Trump from his term and impose improvisation on him during his first term. He threatened to do so again last month after the president suggested the U.S. take over Gaza.
Why did Congressman Green accompany Trump to speak together?
back Mr. Trump begins his speech He announced that “the United States is back” to celebrate the applause from Republicans and “the applause from America,” and he celebrated his victory in the 2024 election, saying: “The presidential election on November 5 is a mandate that has not been seen in decades.”
Green stood in the president’s direction and shouted as the president cited his victory in the swing country and claimed to have won the universal vote through the “big number”.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson sat behind Mr. Trump on Dais, with the wood shrouding Green to keep quiet, saying: “Members were instructed to stick to and maintain etiquette in the house and stop further distractions.”
“That’s your warning,” Johnson said.
Green continued, Johnson repeatedly urged him to sit down and then directed the sergeant to “restore order” the weapon and “remove the gentleman from the room”.
After Greene evacuated from the room, he told reporters that he was “willing to receive any available punishment”.
“Whatever the punishment is,” Green said. “I’m not going to fight punishment. It’s about people who are punished for losing health care. It’s the richest country in the world, and we have people who have good health care. We have to do better, and now we’re going to cut Medicaid, it’s for the poor.”
Did other Democrats protest in Trump’s speech?
Green’s interruption occurred on questions about Democrats’ behavior during Mr. Trump’s speech. A group of democratic women in the House Wear pink Tuesday night protest They said the president’s policy was “destructive women” while other lawmakers held signs or otherwise showed their dissatisfaction.
Other Democrats protested, with four House Democratic women taking off their pink blazers, standing up, turning around to reveal their black T-shirts with wording on the back – at least one of them said “resistance.” Then, they walked out of the room.
Several other members also walked out of the conference hall.
Meanwhile, Michigan’s Rep. Rashida Tlaib showed a whiteboard that when Trump asked Congress to extend its 2017 tax cut, the committee said “the tax is to be paid first”, which will be sunset by the end of 2025.
Another Democrat, Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, held a sign saying “This is not normal” and Mr. Trump walked out. A Republican lawmaker defeated him.
A minority of Democrats chose not to attend Tuesday night’s speeches, including Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. But Democrats did not boycott speeches on a large scale.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries outlined expectations in a letter to colleagues, saying the decision to attend was “individual”, stressing that “it is important to have a strong, firm and dignified democratic presence in the chamber.”
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Contributed to this report.