Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tried to justify throwing away a memorial pin and pamphlet showing a 10-year-old girl who was killed in the Uvalde mass shooting.
The Colorado Republican addressed a widely shared video clip showing her throwing the pin and photo in the trash. She claimed she had not heard the activist who handed her the items when he approached because she was wearing Airpods as she walked in the U.S. Capitol, and she claimed she recognized the man as someone who had made her feel unsafe, reported The Independent.
"I was walking, had Airpods in, tried to tell the man I was occupied, he continued, and as he was handing me what turned out to be a memorial pin, I recognized him as a man who came at me very aggressively just a few weeks prior during a press conference," Boebert said. "He was so aggressive that he was apprehended by another member and detained by Capitol police officers."
"So I want to make it very clear that I did not want to receive anything that this man had to give me, nor did I know what he was handing me," Boebert added. "I was very vocal when the shooting took place in Uvalde, and that was horrific all the way around."
The activist disputed Boebert's claims, saying the lawmaker's staff asked police to remove him from the event because he was wearing a shirt that called to "ban assault weapons," and he said officers never detained him.
