Pressley Calls President Trump's Attacks 'Distraction' By 'The Occupant' Of White House
BOSTON (CBS) – In an exclusive interview with CBS This Morning, Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley and three Congresswomen dubbed "the Squad" reacted to President Trump's controversial tweets telling 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.
Pressley joined Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar in a sit-down interview with Gayle King.
"We can talk about and spin out on hate, about hateful words, which are a predictable prompt by the occupant of this White House. And I call him that not because I don't have respect for the Oval Office," Pressley said.
King asked Pressley if she believes calling Trump "the occupant" shows disrespect for the Oval Office.
"No, because he is only occupying the space. He does not embody the principles, the responsibility, the grace, the integrity of a true president and so for that reason, I'm not dishonoring the office. He does every day," she said. "This is a distraction, this is a disruption on our leading and legislating and governing on the issues of care and concern and consequence of the American people."
Trump continued his attacks on the congresswomen Wednesday, sharing a quote from Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, which calls the group "Wack Jobs."
Pressley, meanwhile, told King she and her colleagues are merely trying to bring "our authentic voice to this body."
"Each of us represent very different districts and each of us bring our unique and our authentic voice to this body. We govern in our own way. What we are are four women who have an alignment of values, shared policy priorities. There is no insurgency here. There's nothing conspiratorial," Pressley said. "There is no insurgency, and there's nothing conspiratorial. What we are are four lawmakers who happened to land in the same place on the same issue time and time again."
