President Donald Trump praised Democratic presidential hopeful Rep.Tulsi Gabbard over the weekend for voting “present” during his impeachment, USA Today reports.
“I give her respect. She didn’t vote the other day. I give her a lot of respect. Because she knew it was wrong. She took a pass,” Trump said of Gabbard on Saturday while speaking at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Following her vote, Gabbard released a statement claiming that she could not “in good conscience” vote either yes or no “because removal of a sitting president must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country.”
Gabbard has already been accused multiple times of being too friendly with the Republican Party. Now, Trump has helped fan the flames of scrutiny Gabbard faces from other Democrats. To be fair, Trump was twisting the Representative from Hawaii‘s vote to his own benefit.
Although her vote angered many impeachment supporters on Twitter, Gabbard never claimed that removing Trump was wrong. She, instead, insisted in her statement that she thought the president is guilty of wrongdoing, but the apparent partisan divide of the impeachment proceedings held her back.
Still, the fact that she is probably one of the few Democrats about whom Trump has something nice to say is probably not going to endear her to voters.