One day after being federally indicted for her role in obstructing immigration officers outside an Illinois detention facility, Gen Z House candidate Kat Abughazaleh rage-quit an interview after being asked about her charges.
Abughazaleh joined Tara Palmeri on her podcast Thursday, which followed an indictment by a grand jury alleging the Illinois congressional candidate "physically hindered and impeded" a federal agent who was "forced to drive at an extremely slow rate of speed to avoid injuring any of the conspirators." Abughazaleh was one of six people named in the indictment, which also alleged the suspects scratched the word "PIG" into the side of a vehicle being driven by a federal immigration officer in addition to banging, pushing, impeding and vandalizing the car.
"Did she just sign off? Did she just leave the chat?" Palmeri questioned after Abughazaleh spontaneously removed herself from the virtual interview after only being asked a question or two about the charges she is facing and their severity. "I'm so confused. I'm sorry, I don't know what just happened. Um…okay. Well, she asked- she left because I asked her questions about what happened that day. Alright, well I will continue with the conversation on my own, I guess. This is very bizarre."
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Abughazaleh's abrupt exit came after she appeared to get frustrated with Palmeri's questions regarding her federal charges.
"What do you think about those charges though, they seem really serious?" Palmeri asked Abughazaleh, noting they include accusations of "conspiracy to impede or injure an ICE officer" and "assaulting or impeding that officer."
"Those are pretty big charges," Palmeri remarked.
Abughazaleh responded that she "thinks" the charges were "slightly different," but added that "no matter what the charges are in the indictment" she plans to plead not guilty. "This is a political prosecution plain and simple."
But Palmeri continued to press the Gen Z candidate about the severity of her charges, particularly on whether she was party to scratching the word "PIG" in the side of the federal immigration officer's car.
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"I'm not speaking to the specifics of anything that's in the indictment right now, but, like I said, I do plan on pleading not guilty and the evidence will come out in court and I plan on winning," Abughazaleh responded with a stern demeanor much different from what she had at the start of the discussion.
Then Palmeri played a video recording of the incident alleged in the indictment, where Abughazaleh can be seen impeding an ICE officer's car with a large group of protesters, which evidently was the final straw for her.
"When you see that, what do you think right now?" Palmeri asked.
"Yeah, Tara, once again, this is my first time being federally indicted, like I said," Abughazaleh shot back. "I plan on pleading not guilty, the evidence will come out in court and I plan on winning. Thank you so much for having me."
Following Abughazaleh's response, her camera disappeared but Palmeri appeared unaware she had left and immediately went into asking another question before realizing what had happened.
"Yeah, so I guess, this - this is - I've never had that happen before," Palmeri said in disbelief once she understood the situation. "Apologies," she added before pointing out that the young congressional candidate will have to get used to answering tough questions if she wants to serve in Congress.
"This could hinder her ability to serve in Congress, it could make it more difficult - you know, some people might not vote for her, but at the same time, she's probably raised a ton of money off of it," Palmeri continued about the charges after Abughazaleh left, noting she has been in second in a very crowded primary of 13 candidates in her race to represent Illinois' 9th Congressional District.
"I don't understand why she left the chat. I thought I was asking some pretty basic questions, and, I don't know, it doesn't really bode well for - if she wants to be a member of Congress," Palmeri continued. "I think it probably would've been better to just talk through it, but if she can't take a few questions about what happened from me, how is she going to handle representing an entire district?"
Fox News Digital reached out to Abughazaleh's campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response in time for publication.
