Four progressive democrats known as “the Squad” have revealed the source of their fierce moniker – they gave it to themselves at a photo shoot.

“Someone said, ‘Oh you should do a hashtag or something #squadgoals’ and then it morphed into whole other thing,” Congress member Ayanna Pressley told CBS This Morning on Wednesday.

“It’s not just about dismantling – we’re also intentional about building and fostering,” the Massachusetts congresswoman explained. “The reality is anyone who is interested in building a more equitable and just world is a part of the Squad.”

Coming just hours after a House resolution condemned Donald Trump’s tweets as racist, the Squad used the interview with anchor Gayle King to renew their criticisms of the president – but also their own Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

The Michigan legislator Rashida Tlaib called Trump “the biggest bully I’ve ever had to deal with” and described his tweets about her and fellow representatives and members of the four-strong Squad, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Pressley and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, as a “distraction” created by a “bully”.

“I’m dealing with the biggest bully I’ve ever had to deal with in my lifetime and trying to push back on that and trying to do the job that we all have been sent here to do,” Tlaib said.

“This is a distraction,” Tlaib added. “This is a person that really wants to vilify, demonize, not only immigrants, but even communities of color.”

Tlaib challenged Pelosi to call the Squad members to a meeting.

“She is speaker of the House. She can ask for a meeting to sit down with us for clarification,” Tlaib said. She also called on Pelosi to acknowledge that they are “women of color”.

“Acknowledge the fact that we are women of color, so when you do single us out, be aware of that and what you’re doing, especially because some of us are getting death threats, because some of us are being singled out because of our backgrounds, because of our experiences and so forth,” Tlaib said.

But the CBS host Gayle King also challenged Pressley over her description of Trump as the “occupant” of the White House.

“I call him that not because I don’t have respect for the Oval Office,” Pressley said, describing Trump as “only occupying the space”.

“He does not embody the principles, the responsibility, the grace, the integrity of a true president,” Pressley told King. “I’m not dishonoring the office. He does every day.”

Over the weekend, Trump was widely condemned for saying the four progressive members of the Squad, should “go back” to “the crime infested places from which they came”. Critics were outraged by the racist trope. Omar came to America as a refugee and soon became a US citizen, the other three women were all born in the US.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted remarks made by the Louisiana Senate Republican John Kennedy, calling them the “four horsewomen of the apocalypse” and “wack jobs”.

....they are destroying the Democrat Party. I’m appalled that so many of our Presidential candidates are falling all over themselves to try to agree with the four horsewomen of the apocalypse. I’m entitled to say that they’re Wack Jobs.” Louisiana Senator John Kennedy — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2019

Trump’s series of racist remarks made in tweets and remarks at the White House since Sunday have drawn much domestic and international condemnation, including from the prime ministers of the UK and Canada.

But only four Republicans joined the House Democratic effort to condemn the president’s use of racist language, in a vote on a resolution on Tuesday evening.

The resolution fells down party lines, with 240 Democrats in favor and 187 Republicans opposed.

Asked if Republicans had done enough to condemn the president’s remarks, Ocasio-Cortez told CBS: “Absolutely not.”

But Ocasio-Cortez also said there was no “fundamental fracture” between progressives and moderates.