During President Trump’s State of the Union address, Rep. Debra Lawrence, D-Mich., was caught by a Getty photographer playing Candy Crush in the House Chamber, a photo shows.
Millions of Americans tuned in to hear President Trump deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
But other Americans tuned his message out — and it looks like one of them is a member of Congress who was sitting in the House chamber for the speech.
Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., was caught playing the game Candy Crush on her phone as President Trump delivered his 80-minute message to a joint session of Congress, the Detroit News reports. A Getty photographer, perched overhead, snapped a picture of the second-term lawmaker in action during the speech.
While Lawrence’s office didn’t respond to the Detroit News’ request today that she confirm she was playing the addictive phone game, Lawrence did speak to the newspaper after the speech to give her reaction. During that interview, Lawrence said she was disappointed in the president’s message and rhetoric.
“When you know his policies and the things he has said and the disrespect, I cannot connect the words to the person standing there,” Lawrence told the newspaper.
Lawrence was hardly alone in getting distracted. Two other lawmakers sitting next to her in the photo are also glued to their phones.
And as some pointed out on Twitter, voters in Michigan’s 14th congressional district may not mind: Lawrence beat her Republican challenger handily in 2016, getting more than 78 percent of votes in the district.
The Candy Crush picture was first reported by the Daily Mail.
A handful of Democrats didn’t show up to the president’s speech at all, as McClatchy reported earlier this week.
“This is a presidency that has been built on racism, stupidity, and lies, which has already wasted enough of America’s time and I will not waste any more of mine,” Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., told Roll Call ahead of the speech.
At least 14 Democratic lawmakers decided to skip the State of the Union. That surpassed the previous record of 12 lawmakers skilling the speech, which set during President Richard Nixon’s 1971 address.
Even after President Bill Clinton was impeached, only four Republican members of Congress chose not to come to his 1999 State of the Union, CNN reports.
