Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced today that she would not attend tonight’s State of the Union address by President Donald Trump, one of the most high-profile congresspeople to announce they would not be present.
“After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution. None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it. Consequently, I will not be attending the State of the Union,” she wrote on Twitter.
After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2020
None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it.
Consequently, I will not be attending the State of the Union.
Ocasio-Cortez’s decision comes in the wake of the Senate’s vote to exclude witnesses from the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
While some Republican senators announced they thought Trump committed wrongdoing in his actions with Ukraine, they nonetheless voted with their colleagues to keep witnesses from testifying before the Senate, the first-ever impeachment trial to not include them.
The Senate is expected tomorrow to vote to acquit Trump on party lines after he was impeached by the House last year.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), another leading progressive, is also skipping the State of the Union to campaign in the New Hampshire primary.
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