Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer accused Republicans of twisting her words on the Holocaust for political gain.
Democrats in Congress believe the Republican attacks against their freshmen progressives have finally gone too far.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are charging to the defense of Rep. Rashida Tlaib as she faces a torrent of conservative criticism, including from President Donald Trump, for recent comments on the Holocaust and Israel.
Republicans have seized on a snippet from a podcast interview to accuse Tlaib of saying she got a “calming feeling” when thinking about the Holocaust — with Trump calling it “horrible and highly insensitive” and House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney saying it was a “sickening” instance of anti-Semitism in Democratic Party.
But Democratic leaders have pointed out that Tlaib was not referring to the Holocaust when she said she got a “calming feeling.” She was talking about the “safe haven” Jews found in the home of her ancestors after fleeing persecution in Europe, as part of a 7-minute back-and-forth on the complex politics of a one-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
“I want a safe haven for Jews. Who doesn’t want to be safe? I’m humbled by the fact that it was my ancestors who had to suffer for that to happen,” Tlaib said of the decades of strained relations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Tlaib’s comments — which were made in a little-known Yahoo! News podcast — surfaced on Sunday after GOP leaders, led by Cheney and No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise — blasted out statements condemning her words.
House Democrats had largely ignored the controversy until Trump’s tweet late Monday morning, which was retweeted nearly 20,000 times.
