When Rep. Mayra Flores (R-TX) was being sworn in on June 21, her family posed with Pelosi for photos, during which time the highest-ranking congresswoman seemed to push Flores’ daughter to the side to give herself more room.
The girl, who was leaning a little close to Pelosi, managed to get close enough for the senior lawmaker to bump her while gesturing for someone else to come over. Seemingly realizing her proximity to the child, Pelosi can be seen in the video using the same elbow she gestured with to push the girl several inches to the side.
“I am so proud of my strong, beautiful daughter for not allowing this to faze her. She continued to smile and pose for the picture like a Queen,” Flores tweeted on Sunday, quote-tweeting a video shared by Hollywood actor James Woods of the incident.
“No child should be pushed to the side for a photo op. PERIOD!!” she added.
Woods’ original tweet read: “I love this princess stood her ground, while Nancy showed her true colors.”
Flores, a Mexican-American woman who was born in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, won a special election in March to replace Rep. Filemon Vela, a Democrat who recently resigned. Flores’ victory flipped the district to the Republicans, narrowing Pelosi’s already razor-thin Democratic majority in the US House of Representatives. However, she will have to defend the seat again in November, when Vela’s term would have been completed.
Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, fired back on Monday.
“It’s sad to see ‘news outlets’ that know better misrepresent the Speaker’s effort to ensure Rep. Flores’ daughters wouldn’t be hidden behind her in all of the photos of such an important moment for their family,” Hammill said, replying to a Fox News story about the incident.