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This week, the House of Representatives took a vote on the resolution to censure Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar for sharing an animation video depicting him murdering New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The House ultimately voted to censure Gosar on a bipartisan vote.
The House censured Gosar Wednesday on a bipartisan vote over the anime video showing the Arizona Republican killing Ocasio-Cortez and threatening US President Joe Biden. The resolution also removes Gosar from his House committees: Oversight and Reform and Natural Resources. Along with the Democratic majority, two Republicans, Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney voted in favor of the censure.
This is the first censure in Congress since 2010 and the 24th in the entire history of the US, according to the New York Times. The paper reported that the near-unanimous opposition of the House Republicans to censure Gosar was a sign of the political party’s “growing tolerance to menacing statements.”
The paper also noted the difference in messages from the majority of lawmakers in the chamber. While Democratic Representatives say that it is important to speak out against threats and imagery that played a part in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, Republicans looked to cater to their base of supporters and turned the issue into a grievance against the Democrats, accusing the Democrats of being “unfettered and out of control” as well as “silencing conservatives.”
Shortly after the House voted to censure Gosar, the Arizona congressman retweeted the video. Prior to the vote to censure, Gosar defended his sharing of the video.
The Arizona congressman’s brother, David Gosar, spoke with Joy Reid on MSNBC and commented on the video his brother shared. Reid asked him to weigh in on his brother’s claim that the video was not meant to be threatening. Mr. Gosar said that it was not true.
“Given Paul’s track record, if he tells you it’s stopped raining outside, grab your umbrella. He’s just an inveterate liar,” said Mr. Gosar.
“Of course he meant this,” added David Gosar. “They cooked this up with the intention of getting attention -- raising funds -- like they always do. These House trolls, they all have to one-up each other. So he knew this was going to be controversial, and he was heavily involved in it. What a lightweight move to blame it on your staff, seriously. He knew what was going to happen. It was intended to raise funds. It wasn’t any joke.”
