Rep. Ayanna Pressley has announced that she will boycott President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night.
But the Massachusetts Democrat is still set to provide a counterpoint to it — she is going to deliver the Working Families Party's rebuttal to the annual speech.
Pressley's statement referred to Senate Republicans' recent vote not to call witnesses in the president's impeachment trial, set to wrap up Wednesday and likely with his acquittal.
“On the eve of Senate Republicans covering up transgressions and spreading misinformation, I cannot in good conscience attend a sham State of the Union when I have seen firsthand the damage Donald J. Trump’s rhetoric and policies have inflicted on those I love and those I represent,” said Pressley in a statement.
Several other Democrats will skip the State of the Union as well, including Pressley ally Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Steve Cohen, Al Green and Frederica Wilson.
After Trump's speech, Pressley will deliver a rebuttal for the Working Families Party, a progressive political group that endorses candidates in more than a dozen states.
The official Democratic rebuttals will be given by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in English and Rep. Veronica Escobar in Spanish.
