Rashida Tlaib calls Trump "the biggest bully I've ever had to deal with"
Watch more of Gayle King's interview with Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar on "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday, airing 7 to 9 a.m.
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib said President Trump's incendiary tweets about her and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar were a "distraction" created by a "bully."
"I'm dealing with the biggest bully I've ever had to deal with in my lifetime and trying to push back on that, and trying to do the job that we all have been sent here to do, which is centered around the people at home," Tlaib said in an interview with "CBS This Morning" host Gayle King. "This is a distraction."
The four congresswomen, colloquially known as "the Squad," sat down with King on Tuesday for their first interview since the president's tweets. In his tweets on Sunday, Mr. Trump called on them to "go back" to their countries of origin — even though three of them were born in the U.S. and all are American citizens.
Shortly after the interview on Tuesday, the House voted to approve a resolution condemning Mr. Trump's tweets, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in voting to denounce the statements. The president, however, has shown no sign of backing down.
"Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don't have a Racist bone in my body! The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show 'weakness' and fall into their trap," Mr. Trump tweeted on Tuesday.
Several Republicans have defended the president or opted not to say anything about his remarks. In the interview with King, Ocasio-Cortez said Republicans had not done enough to denounce the comments.
"They could not bring themselves to have the basic human decency to vote against the statement that the president made on the floor," Ocasio-Cortez said prior to the final vote.
"What kind of message does that send?" King asked.
"The normalization of it. The fact that it's against our core American values," Tlaib said. "That they're choosing him over country."
The president's attacks came in the midst of a dispute between the progressive lawmakers and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one that had spilled into public view in recent weeks. Pelosi has downplayed the members' influence in crafting and passing legislation, leading Ocasio-Cortez to accuse the speaker of "singling out newly elected women of color."
In Tuesday's interview, Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib said they were willing to meet face to face with Pelosi to try to resolve their differences.
"She has every right to sit down with her in any moment, in any time, with any of us. She is speaker of the House. She can ask for a meeting to sit down with us for clarification," Tlaib said. "Acknowledge the fact that we are women of color, so when you do single us out, be aware of that and what you're doing, especially because some of us are getting death threats, because some of us are being singled out in many ways because of our backgrounds, because of our experiences and so forth."
Ocasio-Cortez said she would "absolutely" meet with Pelosi and said her staff has been in touch with Pelosi's office. A spokesman for Pelosi said later Tuesday that Ocasio-Cortez had requested a one-on-one meeting, and they were working on scheduling a time. He noted Pelosi's chief of staff had recently met with the chiefs of staff of the four members.