Drama unfolded as President Donald Trump was repeatedly heckled during his State of the Union address, exposing deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans, with clashes erupting over immigration and allegations of fraud.
Democratic lawmakers interrupted and shouted at the president as he delivered his speech, in footage shown by NBC.
Trump hit back, telling them they should be “ashamed”.
Representative Ilhan Omar responded, “You should be ashamed,” before adding, “Liar!” Representative Rashida Tlaib joined in, yelling at Trump in support of Omar’s remarks.
Just before leaving the chamber, the pair shouted once more, “You have killed Americans!” Representative Norma Torres held up a sign bearing photos of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis in January.
According to NBC, the chaos followed the ejection of Al Green from the House floor after he held up a sign reading “Black People Aren’t Apes!”, in reference to a racist video Trump shared online earlier this month that depicted the Obamas as apes.
Walkouts, heated heckling, boycotts and the symbolism of carefully selected guests underscored the depth of Democratic opposition to the president.
Tensions escalated further when Democrats invited survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as their guests, spotlighting an issue Trump has urged the country to move past.
“How about those Epstein files?” Tlaib shouted during the address.
Other Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wore pins calling on the administration to release all related files.
“He’s enriching himself, his family, his friends. The scale of the corruption is unprecedented,” Pelosi said.
“There’s the cover-up of the Epstein files, the crypto scams, cosying up to foreign princes for aeroplanes and billionaires for ballrooms, putting his name and face on buildings all over our nation’s capital. This is not what our founders envisioned, not by a long shot,” lamented Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger.
In early January, Trump cited an ongoing fraud investigation in Minneapolis to justify deploying 3,000 immigration officers to the state.
According to Forbes, negotiations have stalled amid a partisan dispute over immigration enforcement reforms.
Trump had been expected to persuade Democrats to reach an agreement, but failed to do so.
As a result, a bill to continue funding DHS failed to pass the Senate for a second time on Tuesday, with senators rejecting the legislation in a 50 to 45 vote, short of the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster, a parliamentary procedure used to delay or block legislative action.