Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz criticized the White House on Wednesday night after Kellyanne Conway retweeted an allegation that Wasserman Schultz did not stand or clap during a standing ovation for the widow of a slain Navy SEAL during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress.
Conway, one of the President’s top advisers, responded to someone else’s tweet by writing, “Hope this is not true. It was a moment of unity and deserved recognition.”
The ovation came Tuesday night when Trump honored fallen Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, who was killed during a January raid in Yemen, as his widow Carryn Owens looked on in the chamber.
After acknowledging that Owens’ widow was in attendance, Trump said, “Ryan died as he lived: a warrior, and a hero — battling against terrorism and securing our nation.”
Video of the speech posted to the White House website shows Democrats and Republicans rise for a standing ovation within seconds, including Wasserman Schultz.
The former chairwoman of the DNC was shown both the tweet and website video during an interview with Erin Burnett on CNN’s “OutFront.”
Asked whether she received an apology from Conway, Wasserman Schultz said, “Of course she hasn’t apologized, because that’s their M.O.”
“They generate and perpetuate fake news. They don’t tell the truth. They lie, they distort, they intentionally put out false information so that they can try to control the news cycle,” she said.
Wasserman Schultz said, “I don’t need an apology, I need them to start telling the truth.”
The Democrat also said Conway “could pick up the phone and call my office, call me and ask me if it was true. How about check the WhiteHouse.gov tape in their own office building to see if it’s true, because that’s how it was actually proven false as you just demonstrated on the screen. But these people are not truthful; that’s why I don’t trust them. Most of the American people don’t trust them and that’s why this President has been so wholly unpopular up to this point.”
But there were areas in the speech where video shows Wasserman Schultz did stay seated as Republicans and fellow Democrats stood and applauded remarks by the President. One instance was at the very beginning of Trump’s address when he said “as we mark the conclusion of our celebration of Black History Month, we are reminded of nation’s path toward civil rights and the work that still remains to be done.”
The congresswoman defended not rising for the remark, stating it took Trump weeks to properly respond to a series of anti-Semitic attacks and threats across the country and that Trump “is someone, who during his campaign, Erin, retweeted white supremacists.”
“I mean this is someone who has fanned the flames and given permission and license for these anti-Semitic attacks and acts to come to the surface, and that’s unacceptable,” she added. “So he has to do a lot more and go a lot further before I stand and applaud for him saying some things that he should have said long ago.”
