Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has apologized for ‘appearing’ to disrespect the victims of the Uvalde school massacre after she was captured on video throwing a memorial pin honoring one of the victims in the trash.
“If anyone thinks that I was disrespecting a child who tragically lost their lives at the hands of an evil, evil person, I want to apologize for the appearance of that. But that’s not at all what it was,” she said.
In the video that circulated on social media last week, a gun control activist was seen telling Boebert that the pin was in memory of Maite Rodriguez, 9, one the 19 children who were killed in the massacre. The pin was designed to look like a pair of green Converse sneakers that Rodriguez wore on the day of the massacre. Her family used those shoes to identify her body after the shooting.
Boebert did not respond to the activist, but was seen taking the piece of paper with the pin attached and throwing it in a trash can.
The congresswoman blamed her actions on the fact that she was wearing AirPods at the time and said the activist who gave her the pin was someone who acted “aggressively” towards her during a press conference weeks prior.
“I was walking, I had AirPods, I tried to tell the man I was busy, and he continued, and as he handed me what turned out to be a memorial pin, I recognized him as a man who attacked me very aggressively a few weeks prior at a press conference,” Boebert said. “He was so aggressive that he was apprehended by another member and detained by Capitol Police officers.”
But, the activist who handed Boebert the pin, Elijah Pelton, told The Independent that the congresswoman is mistaking him for Jake Burdett. Burdett, another activist, was removed from a House Freedom Caucus press event in May by Rep. Clay Higgins after asking about Boebert’s divorce.
