Tipsheet

Rep. Tlaib Brags About Being Removed From Event By Secret Service Agents

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), not in Congress at the time, was tossed out of an event for protesting then-candidate Donald Trump’s speech before the Detroit Economic Club in Aug. 2016. In a new video, Rep. Tlaib brags about being carried out from the event by Secret Service agents, saying it took more agents to eject her from the event than it took other protesters to be expelled from Trump’s speech.

In the new video, Rep. Tlaib says that as she was being removed from the event, her brother phoned Tlaib to let her know that he was proud of her. “Sis, I’m so proud of you,” Tlaib recalls her brother saying.

Tlaib says she told her brother, “I’ve done this stuff before. What’s the big deal?”

According to Tlaib, her brother then said, “No sis. I watched the video. All the other women only needed two secret service. You needed six.”

Tlaib goes on to say that her opponents are going to need a lot more than corporate donations and all these corporate-pled candidates to take her out.

But it looks like Tlaib might have taken herself out. On Thursday, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Rep. Tlaib for her apparent misuse of campaign funds for her own personal finances. The Ethics Committee released several emails from Tlaib to her campaign staff, telling her staff that she was struggling financially and asking the campaign for support.

A referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics called for an investigation into Tlaib’s possible violations. 

“If Rep. Tlaib converted campaign funds from Rashida Tlaib for Congress to personal use,” the referral states, “or if Rep. Tlaib’s campaign committee expended funds that were not attributable to bona fide campaign or political purposes, then Rep. Tlaib may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law."

In the 2016 video of Tlaib being removed from Trump’s speech, Tlaib can be heard shouting to attendees, “You guys are crazy,” as she is being carried out by Secret Service agents. Tlaib said she was compelled to protest the event because of Trump’s “hate-filled rhetoric and tactics.”