Thursday on CNN’s “New Day,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) defended her use of the term “prop” to describe her colleague Rep. Mark Meadows’ (R-NC) guest and Trump administration official Lynne Patton.

Co-host Alisyn Camerota asked Tlaib why she felt compelled initially to apologize to Meadows for the remark, to which the Michigan Democrat said she thought it was important to speak out about how she felt.

“You know, I just want folks to know — this is probably the most diverse class — this is the largest incoming class since Watergate,” Tlaib said. “And yeah, we look differently, and many of us didn’t run to be first of anything. But I think we ran because we not only wanted Congress to look differently but also speak differently and feel differently. And for me again, as a person and a member of that committee, I did not feel I should be silent about how that made me feel as an equal member to Mr. Meadows and many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. At that moment, it was important for me to speak truth to power. It was important for me to speak out against that action that I thought was very hurtful and very painful for many of us sitting in that committee room.”

Tlaib said she did not intend to make him feel like she was calling Meadows a “racist,” but that she wanted him to know “that was not the way to do it” at that moment.

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