A prominent Republican senator said over the weekend that she “won’t be surprised” if a member of Congress was murdered in today’s highly political climate, as a new report says between 2016 and 2021 of lawmakers. The threats against have increased tenfold.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or a House member was killed,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Main). new York Times In an interview published on Saturday.
“What started with abusive phone calls is now turning into active threats of violence and genuine violence,” he said.
Threats against Collins herself escalated in 2018 when she announced she would Support Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation In Supreme Court despite allegations of sexual misconduct
Shortly after, she received a written message that included a video of the beheading.
“We’ll take your l-mbs off and yo-r faces off. We’ll stick out your tongue when you look up and slouch down your throat as your outfit,” the letter read.
The Times report, citing figures kept by the US Capitol Police, said threats filed against members of Congress increased tenfold to 9,625 in 2021 and that the department opened 1,820 cases in the first three months of 2022.
The report said lawmakers from both sides have been chased, armed visitors appear in their homes and have been victims of vandalism and assault since last year’s Capitol riots.
Meanwhile, a wall street journal The editorial on Sunday denounced former President Donald Trump as “reckless” for commenting that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has a “death wish.”
Trump, in a posting on true social, McConnell’s wife, Ellen Chao – Trump’s former transportation secretary – also slammed him as a “China lover” and called him “Coco Chow.”
The “death wish” rhetoric is ugly even by Mr. Trump’s standards and should be condemned. Mr. Trump’s apologists claim they only meant Mr. McConnell’s political death wish, but they did not write it. It is very easy to imagine that some radicals are taking Mr. Trump seriously and literally, and are attempting to kill Mr. McConnell,” the editorial said.
“Many supporters took Mr. Trump’s rhetoric about former Vice President Mike Pence on January 6 very seriously,” it continued.
The Journal also picked up Collins’ remarks about members of Congress being killed to remind readers that “a leftist follower of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders opened fire on Republican members of Congress in 2017 and Rap came close to killing Steve Scallis,
The Times said it reviewed the threats that resulted in the indictment and found that more than a third were made by Republicans or Trump supporters against Democrats or who were not considered loyal enough to the former president.
Roughly a quarter were scored by Democrats against Republicans. In remaining cases party affiliation could not be determined.
The heated political rhetoric has led lawmakers to access their official or campaign accounts to bolster their security – spending more than $6 million since early last year, the report said.
Representative Liz Cheney, the Wyoming Republican who voted to impeach Trump and served as the deputy chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riots, has spent $70,000 on security since January 6 of last year — any more than other House Republicans.
Representative Corey Bush (D-Mo.), and Advocates of the “Defiance of the Police” Movementhas spent nearly $400,000 on security – more than any other member of the House.
Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), one of three black senators in the upper chamber, has paid nearly $900,000 for security since taking office in 2021.
Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the second-highest spender in the Senate, spent nearly $600,000.
While Congress leaders have security details assigned to them, other members find it difficult to add to their security despite constant threats.
The Times reports that it took two years for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to receive additional protection from Capitol police — and it wasn’t until the department posted a threatening tweet against her. Not flagged.
“When I saw what it was, I was like, ‘I’m so screwed’ [threats],'” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Why now?”
The Democrat said his office struggles to keep pace with the “astronomical” numbers he receives every day, outranking all other members except House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Min.).
The Times reports that Ocasio-Cortez has spent more than $120,000 on security services since 2021.
Pramila Jayapal, a key representative of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she struggled to get additional protection from Capitol police, even though a man in Washington state in April began talking obscenely at her home, shutting down her car’s engine. and turned off the engine of his car. Parking in his driveway.
“When we sign up for this job we sign up for a lot of things,” she told the Times. “But seeing someone with a gun at your door, scaring your neighbors, scaring your employees, and frankly intimidating me—it’s hard to describe.”
Brett Forsell, 49, was arrested and police reports said he intended to obtain a semi-automatic assault rifle and continue to return to Jaipal’s home until she “goes back to India.”
Forsell pleaded not guilty in August, but was ordered to pay a $150,000 bail and be monitored by GPS to ensure he stayed away from Jayapal.
Jaipal now has round-the-clock security, but he said it was not easy.
“It took me a lot of pressure to realize that I was getting attention from Capitol Police,” she said.
Rape. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.), who won the A. announced on trump rally in Michigan that “Democrats want Republicans to die, and they’ve already started the killings,” reported that his home in Georgia was “swatted” After a man made a fake suicide threat in August.
The two calls prompted law enforcement officers to show up at her home to investigate.
The local police department said they were in contact with Capital Police on the call.