Lauren Boebert defends SOTU outburst: 'I couldn't stay silent'

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Lawmakers react to Biden's State of the Union

Democrats and Republicans weigh in Biden's address to Congress.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., on Wednesday defended her outburst during President Biden’s State of the Union address after taking heavy criticism from Democrats. 

"The left is p---ed because I called out Biden's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 of America's finest in a flag-draped coffin," Boebert tweeted Wednesday morning. "They are mad because a speech was ‘interrupted’. Ask the the [sic] families who lost their loved ones how interrupted their lives are now."

Biden was talking about American service members sickened because of their proximity to burn pits, invoking his own son Beau, who died of brain cancer, saying the disease could have been caused by his exposure to the pits.

"These burn pits that incinerate waste, the waste of war, medical and hazardous material, jet fuel and so much more, and they come home, many of the fittest and best-trained warriors in the world, never the same," Biden said in his speech. "Headaches, numbness, dizziness, a cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin."

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., shouts "Build the Wall" as President Biden delivers his first State of the Union address at the Capitol, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Washington.  (Associated Press)

BOEBERT WEARS ‘DRILL BABY DRILL’ OUTFIT TO SOTU, YELLS AT BIDEN OVER 13 TROOPS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN PULLOUT

Biden ‘couldn’t be bothered'

"You put them there — 13 of them!" Boebert shouted from inside the chamber, referring to the 13 American service members killed in a terrorist bombing during the withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer. 

She told FOX 31 of Denver Wednesday, "To hear the words ‘flag-draped coffin’ and not think about the 13 Marines who lost their lives under Joe Biden’s watch, I don’t see how that’s possible." She said the outburst wasn't planned. 

She added that the mothers of one of the fallen service members lives in her district. 

"She told me that Joe Biden killed her son," Boebert said. "Last night Biden invited a big tech CEO to the State of the Union, but couldn’t be bothered to recognize any of the families who lost a loved one in Afghanistan. Biden took no responsibility for his failures last night on Afghanistan."

President Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Washington as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, look on.  (Associated Press)

She said it was "shameful and disgusting" that Biden didn’t recognize the 13 service members in his speech. 

‘Not a time for theater’

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., called Boebert a "champion of Gold Star families" but said the State of the Union isn't a time for "theater" in a statement sent to FOX 31. 

"I am a firm believer in decorum, and I believe that we have seen a lack of it as our politics have become increasingly toxic during recent years," Buck said. "The State of the Union is not a time for theater, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi treated it by ripping up President Trump’s speech while directly behind him for the cameras. Congress is not a focus group, as both parties have acted while booing and chanting during presidential addresses for years now. It is also not a time for heckling, as Lauren unfortunately did last night."

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., called Boebert a "national disgrace" over her outburst. 

Several yards away on right Lance Cpl. Dylan Ryan Merola of Rancho Cucamonga is laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Covina on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. Merola was one of 13 service members killed in Afghanistan airport attack.  (Getty Images)

"But worse — because you are irrelevant — Kevin McCarthy owns all of this," he tweeted. "He won’t condemn you because he is a colossal coward."

Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2017, was escorted from the chamber in 2018 after he interrupted President Trump during his State of the Union. Guttenberg said he was arrested over the incident. 

"2 years ago, I yelled out ‘what about victims of gun violence like my daughter’ at SOTU. I did it for gun violence victims & spent most of night in jail. @laurenboebert did it to be an a-----e," he tweeted. "Why was she not removed & spending her night in jail?"

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In 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was criticized by Republicans when she was seen tearing up a copy of then-President Trump’s State of the Union address after he had finished his speech.