Popular in News & Politics

1. Alito’s Explanation for the Upside-Down American Flag Honestly Makes It Worse
2. The Judicial Arsonists Went Too Far for the Conservative Justices This Time
3. Jack Smith Basically Has One Option to Save the Classified Documents Case
4. A Key Weakness of Trump’s Defense Is Coming Into View

President Donald Trump took to Twitter late Friday to continue his attack against Rep. Rashida Tlaib after she declined Israel’s conditional approval to visit her grandmother in the West Bank. The way the lawmaker ended up backtracking on visiting her family member shows that the whole request was a “complete setup,” Trump said.

In a series of tweets, Trump said Israel was “very respectful & nice” to Tlaib in granting the lawmaker permission “to visit her ‘grandmother’.” (Yes, he put “grandmother” in quotes.) But then “she grandstanded & loudly proclaimed she would not visit Israel,” Trump wrote and then proceeded to ask if the whole controversy had “been a setup.” In a subsequent tweet, Trump said Tlaib “obnoxiously turned the approval down” to visit the West Bank. “The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother,” the president wrote. “She doesn’t have to see her now!”

Israel was very respectful & nice to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, allowing her permission to visit her “grandmother.” As soon as she was granted permission, she grandstanded & loudly proclaimed she would not visit Israel. Could this possibly have been a setup? Israel acted appropriately!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2019

Rep. Tlaib wrote a letter to Israeli officials desperately wanting to visit her grandmother. Permission was quickly granted, whereupon Tlaib obnoxiously turned the approval down, a complete setup. The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother. She doesn’t have to see her now!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2019

The president then apparently couldn’t resist taking a dig at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for some reason, claiming she “is fuming, not happy” that Tlaib and Omar are “fast becoming the face of the Democrat Party.” Ocasio-Cortez responded with a laughing emoji.

😂 https://t.co/W1q9zzgnN1

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 17, 2019

Earlier Friday, Tlaib wrote a series of tweets explaining her rationale for rejecting the conditions that Israel had laid out for her to visit the West Bank. “I can’t allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies,” Tlaib wrote.

When I won, it gave the Palestinian people hope that someone will finally speak the truth about the inhumane conditions. I can't allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies. https://t.co/OYIwExV0ga

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 16, 2019

Speaker Nancy Pelosi harshly criticized both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister for what she characterized as “weakness” in their move to block two members of Congress from visiting the country. Still, she emphasized that their attitudes should not come to define U.S.-Israel relations. “We have a deep relationship and long-standing relationship with Israel that can withstand Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu,” Pelosi said in an interview with the Associated Press. “We cannot let their weaknesses stand in the way of our ongoing relationship.”

The speaker added she had “great, great, great sadness” over Israel’s move to block the visit of Tlaib and fellow Democratic lawmaker Ilhan Omar. But she noted that while each lawmaker can decide for themselves, Democrats should not automatically rule out traveling to Israel. “Members will make their own decisions about this, but I would not discourage travel to Israel,” Pelosi said. “We have a strong relationship with Israel as well as a deep love and respect for the people of Israel. And, again, this is not going to undermine that, try as President Trump will to do that.”