Sen. Elissa Slotkin Hits Back at Bill Maher Over Snarky Crack About Pro-Trump Rioters

Comedian and pundit Bill Maher drew pushback when he accused Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) over her reason for not taking money from AIPAC, which had to do with the January 6 riot.

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the interview guest was Sen. Elissa Slotkin, former CIA analyst and Pentagon official who currently serves as a Democratic senator from Michigan.

The panel guests were Laura Coates, CNN chief legal analyst and anchor of the weeknight show “Laura Coates Live”; and Stephen A. Smith, host of “Straight Shooter with Stephen A.” and “The Stephen A. Smith Show” on SiriusXM and YouTube.

During the “Overtime” segment, Maher made a joke about Slotkin’s “convenient” explanation — and she jumped right to her own defense:

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Actually, it’s interesting. I mean, long before October 7th, I stopped taking AIPAC money, not because of Israel or any other issue like that, but because they were giving money to people who had been participating in January 6th. And for me–

BILL MAHER: Who was giving money?

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): AIPAC, they give money to both Democrats and Republicans and people who had been involved in inciting January 6th, they were giving money to.

And as someone who barricaded herself in her office on January 6, I just, I didn’t agree with that. And so back in 2022, that’s when I had that kind of conversation. So long before the last couple of years.

BILL MAHER: (CHUCKLES) All right.

CROWD: (APPLAUSE)

BILL MAHER: There we go. Convenient– for you. (LAUGHS)

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): It’s not convenient when you barricade yourself in your office.

BILL MAHER: Well– I know, but–. It’s not really…

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): It’s pretty real.

BILL MAHER: I– I don’t know–

STEPHEN A. SMITH: I think– I can respect that. I certainly respect that, I don’t disagree. What I’m saying, the part that I disagree with is that if somebody has been supporting you, not you specifically, but if somebody’s been supporting you religiously and you disagree with one thing that they do, all of a sudden you disassociate yourself from them, that’s okay?

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Uh, I think if it’s a fundamental issue of values, yeah. I think that people have disagreements all the time in Washington.

But I think, look, I think every single day, at least as an elected official, I have to walk into work and decide, okay, what are the issues that I have to compromise on, right?

I’m a Democrat representing a state that voted for Trump. Every day I’m trying to figure out where are the issues I can work across the aisle and compromise.

But I also am thinking about what are the issues where I should never compromise, where I’m gonna stand up for values that I believe in.

And when it comes to things like trying to overturn an election, that for me was a line that I just wouldn’t cross. I wasn’t gonna compromise on that.

And so that’s not to be like one thing where we have a disagreement. If you have a fundamental values disagreement with an organization, then you shouldn’t take their money.

Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.

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