On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives will convene and later vote on a resolution to censure Arizona Republican Paul Gosar and strip him of his assignments on two congressional committees.
The vote to censure Gosar comes in the wake of the congressman posting to Twitter and Instagram a manipulated anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, and leaping at President Joe Biden with two swords drawn. The photoshopped rendering was derived from the anime program Attack on the Titan. When Gosar posted the now-deleted tweet, he asked: “Any anime fans out there?”
Though Gosar removed the video after a firestorm of outrage and criticism, he has not yet issued a public apology. Instead, the lawmaker followed up with another message, claiming he was merely joking.
The last lawmaker censured by the House was Charlie Rangel. The New York Democrat was in the hot seat for myriad abuses including misuse of congressional letterhead for fundraising, impermissible use of a rent-controlled facility for campaign headquarters, and inaccurate financial reports and federal tax returns.
According to the Congressional Research Service, just 23 members have been slapped with a censure.
The censure process works as follows: The House will convene and then vote on the resolution to condemn a lawmaker’s actions. Under congressional procedure, the lawmaker at the center of the resolution must stand in the well of the House floor as the resolution is read aloud.
Gosar’s resolution will highlight how the congressman “used the resources of the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials” and to “spread hateful and false rhetoric.”
The censure resolution also lays bare critique of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, noting that this vote has followed “whereas the leadership of the Republican Party has failed to condemn Representative Gosar’s threats of violence against the President of the United States and a fellow member of Congress.”
Such videos, the resolution continues, can “foment actual violence and jeopardize the safety of elected officials, as witnessed in this chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.”
In a message on Twitter Monday night, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of two Republicans who sits on the January 6th Committee, announced that he would vote to censure Gosar.
“We have to hold Members accountable who incite or glorify violence, who spread and perpetuate dangerous conspiracies. The failure to do so will take us one step closer to this fantasized violence becoming real,” Kinzinger wrote. “To be clear, I’ll be voting yes on the Gosar censure resolution.”
The GOP leader on Monday—a full week after Gosar posted the video—has yet to offer any direct condemnation of the lawmaker’s actions, only telling CNN that Gosar took the video down and made a statement that he doesn’t support violence against anybody.
“I called him when I heard about the video and he made a statement that he doesn’t support violence and he took the video down,” McCarthy said.
Gosar, for his part last weekend, issued statements affirming he did not “espouse violence or harm towards any member” or the president, but he maintained that the repugnant video was “truly a symbolic portrayal of a fight over immigration policy.”
“I am entitled to speak to the people and do so in a manner that is engaging,” Gosar said. “Further, I have a right to speak to the younger generation in this country.”
At a closed-door conference among Republican leadership and members on Tuesday, Gosar reportedly issued a private apology to fellow members. McCarthy told reporters after the meeting that Gosar “didn’t see it before it posted.”
Ocasio-Cortez has been subjected to open disdain by Republican members before. Last July, Rep. Ted Yoho of Florida verbally attacked her, calling her a “fucking bitch,” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia hounded Ocasio-Cortez in the halls, generating security concerns.
“Remember when she stalked my office the first time with insurrectionists and people locked inside. All at my job and nothing ever happens,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
Tuesday’s resolution also calls for Gosar to be removed from two committees: The House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which he sits on with Ocasio-Cortez, and the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Significantly, the censure resolution also highlights the ubiquitous nature of harassment against women in office.
The resolution notes that “violence against women in politics is a global phenomenon meant to silence women and discourage them from seeking positions of authority and participating in public life, with women of color disproportionately impacted.”
A 2016 survey by the Inter-Parliamentary Union found 82% of women have experienced psychological violence and 44% of women have received threats of death, sexual violence, beatings, or abductions during their term.
This story is developing.
The vote to censure Gosar comes in the wake of the congressman posting to Twitter and Instagram a manipulated anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, and leaping at President Joe Biden with two swords drawn. The photoshopped rendering was derived from the anime program Attack on the Titan. When Gosar posted the now-deleted tweet, he asked: “Any anime fans out there?”
Though Gosar removed the video after a firestorm of outrage and criticism, he has not yet issued a public apology. Instead, the lawmaker followed up with another message, claiming he was merely joking.
The last lawmaker censured by the House was Charlie Rangel. The New York Democrat was in the hot seat for myriad abuses including misuse of congressional letterhead for fundraising, impermissible use of a rent-controlled facility for campaign headquarters, and inaccurate financial reports and federal tax returns.
According to the Congressional Research Service, just 23 members have been slapped with a censure.
The censure process works as follows: The House will convene and then vote on the resolution to condemn a lawmaker’s actions. Under congressional procedure, the lawmaker at the center of the resolution must stand in the well of the House floor as the resolution is read aloud.
Gosar’s resolution will highlight how the congressman “used the resources of the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials” and to “spread hateful and false rhetoric.”
The censure resolution also lays bare critique of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, noting that this vote has followed “whereas the leadership of the Republican Party has failed to condemn Representative Gosar’s threats of violence against the President of the United States and a fellow member of Congress.”
Such videos, the resolution continues, can “foment actual violence and jeopardize the safety of elected officials, as witnessed in this chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.”
In a message on Twitter Monday night, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of two Republicans who sits on the January 6th Committee, announced that he would vote to censure Gosar.
“We have to hold Members accountable who incite or glorify violence, who spread and perpetuate dangerous conspiracies. The failure to do so will take us one step closer to this fantasized violence becoming real,” Kinzinger wrote. “To be clear, I’ll be voting yes on the Gosar censure resolution.”
The GOP leader on Monday—a full week after Gosar posted the video—has yet to offer any direct condemnation of the lawmaker’s actions, only telling CNN that Gosar took the video down and made a statement that he doesn’t support violence against anybody.
“I called him when I heard about the video and he made a statement that he doesn’t support violence and he took the video down,” McCarthy said.
Gosar, for his part last weekend, issued statements affirming he did not “espouse violence or harm towards any member” or the president, but he maintained that the repugnant video was “truly a symbolic portrayal of a fight over immigration policy.”
“I am entitled to speak to the people and do so in a manner that is engaging,” Gosar said. “Further, I have a right to speak to the younger generation in this country.”
At a closed-door conference among Republican leadership and members on Tuesday, Gosar reportedly issued a private apology to fellow members. McCarthy told reporters after the meeting that Gosar “didn’t see it before it posted.”
Ocasio-Cortez has been subjected to open disdain by Republican members before. Last July, Rep. Ted Yoho of Florida verbally attacked her, calling her a “fucking bitch,” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia hounded Ocasio-Cortez in the halls, generating security concerns.
“Remember when she stalked my office the first time with insurrectionists and people locked inside. All at my job and nothing ever happens,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
Tuesday’s resolution also calls for Gosar to be removed from two committees: The House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which he sits on with Ocasio-Cortez, and the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Significantly, the censure resolution also highlights the ubiquitous nature of harassment against women in office.
The resolution notes that “violence against women in politics is a global phenomenon meant to silence women and discourage them from seeking positions of authority and participating in public life, with women of color disproportionately impacted.”
A 2016 survey by the Inter-Parliamentary Union found 82% of women have experienced psychological violence and 44% of women have received threats of death, sexual violence, beatings, or abductions during their term.
This story is developing.