Member of Congress brings giant photo of Donald Trump mocking disabled reporter onto House floor
Ms Waters was speaking a day after the anniversary of landmark disability protections legislation
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Your support makes all the difference.Representative Maxine Waters has criticised Donald Trump on the House of Representatives with a picture of the President mocking a disabled person.
The Californian gave a speech next to a print out of Mr Trump as he mocked a disabled reporter during the 2016 campaign, noting that the anniversary of the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act was just a day before. That act, which provides protections for disabled people, has been law for 27 years.
“It is a day to reflect on how people with disabilities are treated in our society,” Ms Waters said at the beginning of her speech. “Our president indicated to us what he thinks about people with disabilities long before he was elected, when he mocked a disabled reporter. Mocking the disabled is rude and insensitive and it sends a terrible message to our children.”
Ms Waters had originally intended to give her speech in front of a different poster that included a CNN chyron describing Mr Trump’s actions. She was barred from doing so by the House presiding officer, however.
“It’s the determination of the chair that it’s a breach of the decorum of the House,” the presiding officer said when Ms Waters asked why she couldn’t use that poster.
Mr Trump has denied that he had intended to mock anyone. He insists that he was simply imitating a reporter who had gotten nervous after it was pointed out that he had changed information in a story.
The journalist hadn’t actually retracted any portion of his story — which Mr Trump had cited during the campaign in attempt to prove a false claims his that hundreds or thousands of people danced in celebration of the September 11 attacks in New York. The reporter had said instead that he did not recall being able to confirm reports that people had celebrated the terrorist attacks.
The reporter does, however, have a disability.
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