Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib won't apologize for expletive on Trump

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib spoke in Detroit Tuesday about the government shutdown but was asked if she regrets her profane comments - she said she won't apologize.

Tlaib spoke with federal employees who are home without pay. She said that the shutdown is President Donald Trump's fault and called on him to end it now. She then took questions, one of which was in regards to her comments last week.

The day she was sworn in, Tlaib told a group of supporters that she wanted to 'impeach that motherf***er', referring to Trump. 

She explained why she made the comments that she made but she refused to apologize:

"What I can tell you I am a person who is authentically me. I'm very passionate about fighting for all of us. The use of that language was a teachable moment for me and I understand I am a member of congress and I don't want anything I do or say to distract us. And that's the only thing I apologize for - is that it was a distraction. However, I have a right to be this passionate, this upset. I am a woman of color. I know my residents are nodding because they believe me and they have my back on this. But people like us never run for office and when we do - this is who we are. We're as angry and upset as everyone else. However, we have a course that we have to stick to and nothing I should stay should distract us from that. The shutdown has to be at the forefront."

Pressed to see if she would apologize, she again turned it down.

"I will never apologize for being me and for being passionate and upset. That's - period." 

Speaking to a crowd of supporters Thursday night, the Democrat and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress said of Trump: "People love you and you win. And when your son looks at you and says, 'Momma, look you won. Bullies don't win.' And I said, 'Baby, they don't, because we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the mother***er.'”

Trump called the comments 'disgraceful' and said she "dishonored herself and dishonored her family."