Expelled Tenn. Lawmakers to Visit White House

The two Tennessee lawmakers who were expelled and then reinstated to the state Legislature for protesting on the House floor will visit the White House and meet with President Joe Biden, as will the legislator who survived an expulsion vote, The Hill reports.

The two legislators who were expelled, Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, will travel to the White House on Monday along with Rep. Gloria Johnson, who was subject of an expulsion vote that she survived. The group have become known as the “Tennessee Three” after their protest, which called for action on gun violence in the wake of a mass shooting in Nashville last month, on the floor of the Tennessee House.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday that Biden “saw these three legislators as taking that next step when calling for an assault weapons ban, which is incredibly important. Weapons of war should not be on the streets.”

She added that the president spoke with the lawmakers and “thanked them for speaking out and standing their ground and being very clear about what’s needed for them to protect their communities, and he invited them here to continue that conversation.”

Vice President Kamala Harris said during a visit to Nashville earlier this month that she supports the legislators’ calls for “reasonable gun safety laws,” adding that it’s a “false choice” between that and favoring the Second Amendment.

“We can and should do both,” she said.