Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich) accused Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) of singling out the "squad" of female progressive Democrats in the House.
Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, appeared on CBS This Morning for an interview that aired Wednesday alongside other members of the "squad," which includes Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.).
Co-host Gayle King asked Ocasio-Cortes whether she was speaking with Pelosi, prompting her to say their teams were in communication about setting up a potential meeting.
"Shouldn't it be a face-to-face?" King asked.
Ocasio-Cortez said she agrees and then Tlaib interjected in an attempt to shield Ocasio-Cortez, saying they are "new members of congress." She then said she was "very protective" of Ocasio-Cortez, prompting King to fire back.
"With all due respect, she doesn't need protection," King said.
"She’s the new member, not the speaker," Tlaib said, referring to Ocasio-Cortez. "She has every right to sit down with her in any moment, anytime, with any of us. She is speaker of the House, she can ask for a meeting to sit down with us for clarification."
Tlaib went on to offer some advice to Pelosi about being aware of the repercussions of singling out women of color.
"The fact of the knowledge is, and I’ve done racial justice work in our country for a long time, acknowledge the fact that we are women of color, so when you do single us out, be aware of that, and what you’re doing," Tlaib continued. "Especially because some of us are getting death threats. Because some of us are being singled out in many ways because of our backgrounds, because of our experiences and so forth."
Pelosi received backlash from the "squad" last week after she took a shot at them during an interview with Maureen Dowd of the New York Times.
"All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world," Pelosi said. "But they didn’t have any following. They're four people and that's how many votes they got."