House Republican asks important question when CNN reporter confronts him for screaming 'lies' at Biden during SOTU

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.) shut down a CNN reporter on Thursday with a single question while defending his outburst at the State of the Union.

Early in Biden's speech, Van Orden screamed "lies" when Biden attacked Donald Trump by saying the former president "failed the most basic presidential duty that he owes to American people: the duty to care." That sin is "unforgivable," Biden added.

After the speech, CNN correspondent Manu Raju confronted Van Orden for interrupting Biden.

"Why did you yell out the president was lying?" the CNN reporter asked.

Van Orden explained that he took issue with Biden's refusal to take responsibility for the border crisis.

"The president should have started and ended his State of the Union address by apologizing to the American people. He's let 8 million illegal immigrants into the country, open[ed] the border. And you know he can close it. So what he said there in the State of the Union, tremendous amount of it was just flat-out fabrication," he responded.

In a follow-up question, Raju suggested that it was inappropriate for Van Orden to engage in outbursts. But the interview quickly ended when Van Orden asked a revealing question of his own.

"You're obviously a member of the House. Is it appropriate for you to yell out 'lies' when the president is addressing you guys?" Raju asked.

"Is it appropriate to tell the truth?" Van Orden fired back.

The simple question raises an important point: if outbursts break decorum rules, what about dishonesty and a lack of candor?

For his part, Van Orden said Friday that he doesn't plan to apologize.

In a radio interview, he condemned Biden for treating the State of the Union address, which should be a politically agnostic summary of the state of the union, as a "campaign speech" to attack his No. 1 political rival.

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