Senator Kyrsten Sinema is firing back at protesters’ “unacceptable behavior” after they followed her into a bathroom at Arizona State University over the weekend.
Videos posted to social media Sunday showed a group of people trail the Democratic lawmaker through a campus hallway. The group continued to berate Sinema as she entered a bathroom stall.
“Yesterday’s behavior was not legitimate protest,” Sinema said in a statement on Monday. “It is unacceptable for activist organizations to instruct their members to jeopardize themselves by engaging in unlawful activities such as gaining entry to closed university buildings, disrupting learning environments, and filming students in a restroom.”
“In the 19 years I have been teaching at ASU, I have been committed to creating a safe and intellectually challenging environment for my students,” she continued. “Yesterday, that environment was breached. My students were unfairly and unlawfully victimized. This is wholly inappropriate.”
All eyes have been on Sinema, as well as West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, amid tense budget negotiations on Capitol Hill.
Sinema has earned the ire of Arizona activists for opposing the original $3.5 trillion price tag of the reconciliation bill, which would implement much of President Joe Biden‘s “Build Back Better” agenda to expand the social safety net and combat climate change.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
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