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Trump Ally Booed and Heckled for Defending the President at Town Hall

The event marked her third town hall disaster in recent weeks.

Trump-supporting Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming once again found herself in the difficult position of having to defend the president’s most unpopular policies this week as she was confronted by disappointed constituents at a town hall event.

Hageman, Wyoming’s sole congressperson and a vocal Donald Trump ally, hosted a town hall event on Monday in Casper, a city in central Wyoming.

During the event, one constituent approached the microphone and asked Hageman, “Who’s responsible for establishing tariffs in our country?”

Hageman began to reply with, “Right now, the president has taken that authority, but I’m not sure when we go back,” before she was drowned out by loud boos. The constitution grants Congress, not the president, the power to impose tariffs, but it can delegate some of these powers to the president if certain conditions are met.

Determined, the questioner continued, asking Hageman why Trump took that authority. She continued to divert to the president: “You’re going to have to ask him,” she responds. “You guys gave it to him,” the questioner retorts, as the audience claps and cheers.

Hageman tries to argue, saying, “I dispute that,” adding that “tariffs have raised over $150 billion.”

“Who pays for them? We pay for them,” the questioner responds. As Hageman tried to defend Trump’s tariffs by citing the fact that inflation has not increased, her response was drowned out by loud jeers and noises of dissatisfaction.

A live stream of the event revealed other confrontations throughout the evening, including a constituent asking the congresswoman about Trump’s plan to abolish mail-in ballots.

“Our democracy is built on secure and accessible voting, where do you stand personally of those foundational tools? And if you support it, how do you defend the charge that it’s more than a policy choice but a push for authoritarian control that undermines elections?”

Hageman’s response is drowned out by cross talk and people shouting, “Lies!”

Another constituent asks her, “How can I tell that anything you say is true? How can I have any trust in you, my representative? You haven’t given us any trust, it’s weird.”

The appearance marks the third time this year that the 62-year-old has been confronted by angry constituents.

Last week, Hageman was booed at another town hall event after attempting to justify the Trump administration’s planned repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Endangerment Finding. The 2009 Endangerment Finding declared greenhouse gases in the atmosphere a threat to public health and necessitated that action be taken to reduce emissions.

Claiming the finding was based on “false science” and that CO2 was “not a pollutant,” Hageman was booed and heckled.

“It was well attended with a spirited crowd and I welcome the opportunity to have meaningful discussion,” she wrote on Facebook after the event.

VOTER FURY

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She published a similar statement following the Casper town hall, attaching a photo taken with students and writing, “I just wrapped up my town hall in Casper. I am appreciative of those who came out to have a meaningful discussion about what matters most to you.”

Hageman was also booed at an event in March where she expressed support for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, telling the crowd, “DOGE is not dismantling social security.“

In a Tuesday interview with local news outlet Wyoming News Now, Hageman blamed several of the confrontations on “professional agitators.”

“I could also tell that there were probably professional agitators in that room, I could see how they behaved... that was just people coming in trying to disrupt the town hall, not for the sake of a dialogue, but that was just what they were doing,” she claimed.

She added, “I don’t mind if people criticize me, that’s going to happen, that’s the nature of our form of government, and I can learn from people as well, so I don’t have a problem with criticism. I don’t even have a problem with town halls where people may disagree with me, and we had a couple of issues like that this morning, and that’s absolutely fine, I lay out my case, they lay out their case and we can kind of discuss.”

The Daily Beast has contacted Rep. Hageman’s office for comment.

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Catherine BourisReporter

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