‘This isn’t about me… That is about what we’re keen to just accept,’ Congresswoman Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez says.
The US Home of Representatives has voted to formally rebuke Republican Congressman Paul Gosar for tweeting an animated video that portrayed him killing progressive congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.
In a 223 to 207 vote largely alongside social gathering strains on Wednesday, the Home censured Gosar and stripped him of two congressional committee assignments. One member voted “current” on the decision.
“This isn’t about me. This isn’t about Consultant Gosar. However that is about what we’re keen to just accept,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned earlier than the vote.
She denounced Republicans who backed Gosar for what she known as failing to sentence “incitement of violence” in opposition to a US Congress member.
The video section tweeted by Gosar final week depicted his face imposed on the top of an anime character hanging one other character with the face of Ocasio-Cortez with a sword on the again of the neck. The video additionally exhibits Gosar swinging two swords at President Joe Biden.
It opens up with actual footage of migrants crossing the US southern border and ends with the flag of Arizona, the place Gosar’s district is predicated.
On Wednesday, Gosar, who’s a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, performed down the cartoon as a mere assertion in opposition to unauthorised immigration, rejecting accusations that it was violent or threatening.
“If I have to be a part of Alexander Hamilton, the primary individual tried to be censured by this Home, so be it. It’s accomplished,” he mentioned on the Home flooring.
Republican Home chief Kevin McCarthy got here to Gosar’s defence, noting that the congressman deleted the video. He accused Democrats of abusing their energy as a majority.
“For Democrats, this vote isn’t a few video; it’s about management,” McCarthy mentioned.
A number of Republican members acknowledged that the video was inappropriate however mentioned it doesn’t represent a menace. Others accused Democrats of utilizing the episode to distract from actual points, together with rising inflation and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Congressional censures are symbolic, however they specific highly effective and formal condemnation by legislators. The final time US lawmakers censured a fellow member was in 2010 once they took motion in opposition to New York Democrat Charles Rangel over ethics violations.
Censure requires a easy majority vote. Expelling a member from Congress takes a two-thirds majority.
Earlier this yr, the Home of Representatives eliminated Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from committee assignments over offensive social media posts that promoted unfounded conspiracy theories and attacked Democrats.
On Wednesday, many Democrats cited the January 6 riots on the Capitol – when Trump supporters stormed Congress in protest in opposition to lawmakers’ efforts to certify Biden’s victory – to spotlight the hyperlink between rhetoric and precise violence.
“When members of Congress and different elected officers converse and act, our constituents and followers give nice weight to our phrases and actions,” Majority Chief Steny Hoyer mentioned.
Earlier this yr, Gosar decried the Division of Justice efforts to analyze and prosecute suspected contributors within the Capitol riots, calling them “peaceable patriots”.