Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) announced Wednesday evening that he would introduce a resolution to censure Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for her “classless outburst” during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
Pelosi infamously tore her copy of the president’s speech, one page at a time, directly behind him as he was acknowledging applause at the end of the address.
Gosar tweeted Wednesday in the aftermath of the Senate’s vote to acquit the president on both articles of impeachment passed by House Democrats in December:
It is not clear if such a resolution would ever come to the floor, since Pelosi controls the House agenda. There is a provision that allows a “discharge” petition, which could force a censure motion to the floor, but that would require at least some Democratic support.
While Republicans — and some independent observers — were shocked by Pelosi’s gesture, many on the left applauded it, at least on social media.
Democrats gave Pelosi a standing ovation in a caucus meeting Wednesday morning for her antics in the House chamber the night before.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.