CLEVELAND — Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio's 13th congressional district made national headlines on Tuesday night when he walked out of President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address.
Around an hour into the president's speech, Ryan announced he had left the House chamber, angrily exclaiming, "I've had enough. It's like watching professional wrestling. It's all fake."
On Wednesday, Ryan spoke to 3News via Skype to talk more about why he decided to walk out of the House while President Trump was still speaking.
"It was just lie after lie after lie," Ryan said. "And even after the beautiful moments like the Tuskegee Airman and his grandson, 30 seconds later he's going into bashing immigrants. I just had enough."
Several Democrats took issue with the rosy picture the president painted during the annual address before Congress, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even tore up her own copy of the speech as Trump left the podium. A fact-check by 3News' parent company Tegna found a number of the president's claims were technically true, but lacking context.
Ryan specifically was alarmed at the president's proclamations about the strength of the economy. During the speech, Ryan's Twitter account pushed back on Trump's claims, asking, "If that's true, why are so many Ohioans working 2 or 3 jobs and struggling to make ends meet?"
Ryan elaborated on his tweet during his conversation with 3News.
"It's insulting. My wife is a school teacher, I'm home every weekend. I went to the auto workers' picket line when they were on strike and to see how many of them are driving two hours to work. To have him (President Trump) diminish that and gloss over it when we just lost a factory is insulting," Ryan said.
In addition to his thoughts on walking out of the State of the Union, Ryan was asked about the acquittal of President Trump. Was he glad to have voted yes when the time came for the House to impeach the president?
"I wouldn't say I was glad we did it. I think it was appropriate that we did it. It was responsible that we did it. Nobody wanted to do it. This is no fun, but when you have positions of authority, you also have responsibilities to uphold the integrity of the Constitution, our values, our institutions and we had to do it," Ryan added.
Ryan ran for the Democratic presidential nomination to go against Trump in the 2020 election, but failed to gain significant steam and dropped out months before the Iowa caucuses. He has remained one of the president's strongest critics in the House.
A recent Baldwin Wallace poll showed Trump trailing Democrats by five points in Ohio, although 16% of respondents were still undecided.