'Embarrassing!' Lauren Boebert slams colleague for taking time off to be 'sad'

Infighting broke out between Republicans on Tuesday after a GOP lawmaker who went missing for nearly four months broke his silence and explained why he was absent.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) responded to questions from TMZ after Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) announced on the House floor that depression was the reason for his disappearance.

"I think it's embarrassing, still, even more so," Boebert said. "I mean, sure, take care of yourself, get healthy. But who gets to take four months off of work because they're sad?"

She called his absence "an absolute disrespect to his voters."

"Whatever the reasons may be, it's embarrassing. I don't care what party you're a part of. It's not OK," she added. "I think there's a dose of depression that comes with these pins that we're given, and so if you can't build up a tolerance to it, then maybe don't be here."

Boebert was asked if she had talked to her colleagues about it.

"I think everyone is more frustrated today with the reasoning," she said. "You have members whom the president has railed on time and time again, and they're not using being sad as an excuse to not show up and work."

"Not showing up for work is discounting the voters. It's not right, it's wrong. It's literally taxation without representation," she added.

Kean, whose House seat has been considered a critical swing seat in the upcoming midterm election, will seek re-election in the fall.

"I would like to see us hold the House, but I wouldn't elect somebody just for the sake of that," Boebert explained. "I do believe in proper representation and people doing the job that they were elected to do, that they swore that they would do. I think people get reelected all the time who probably shouldn't be here and are here for the wrong reasons. So I don't know if there's much difference."