Rep. Rod Blum, R-Iowa, stormed out of a televised interview before schoolchildren after being questioned about screening people from his upcoming town hall series.
According to KCRG-TV in Dubuque, the Monday interview had been scheduled weeks ago and the children were there at Blum's request. The congressman began by defending his choice to check the IDs of attendees to his town halls and only allowing his constituents to enter.
"We don't need people from Chicago there or Des Moines there or Minneapolis there. I don't represent them. They should go talk to their representatives at their town hall meetings," he told anchor Josh Scheinblum.
"I don't represent all Iowans. I represent the first district of Iowa. That would be like saying 'shouldn't I be able to, even though I live in Dubuque, go vote in Iowa City during the election because I'd like to vote in that district instead?'"
Scheinblum then asked Blum if he would accept a donation from a Republican in Iowa City, which prompted the congressman to say "I'm done" before standing and removing his microphone.
"This is ridiculous. He's going to sit here and just badger me," he added.
The interview lasted a little over two minutes.
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