WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett said in a statement Thursday someone showed up at her D.C. office and made “white supremacist threats and hand gestures.”
The outspoken Dallas Democrat said everyone is safe and thanked Capitol Police for responding swiftly. She did not provide further details about the person who made the threats or say whether the individual was arrested.
Crockett said political violence cannot become normalized and criticized President Donald Trump for statements he has made.
“We’re living in a time where political violence is being fueled from the very top,” Crockett said.
Trump this week accused half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — released a video calling on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.”
On Thursday, Trump reposted to social media an article about the video, adding his own commentary that it was “really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.”
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!!” Trump went on. “LOCK THEM UP???” He called for the lawmakers’ arrest and trial, adding in a separate post that it was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.”
Trump also reposted more than a dozen comments from other accounts criticizing Democrats, including one that stated “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
Asked during a White House briefing on Thursday about the intent of Trump’s messages, press secretary Karoline Leavitt instead honed in on the Democrats’ message, which she posited “perhaps is punishable by law.”
Leavitt went on to say that any incitement to “defy the chain of command, not to follow lawful orders” is “a very dangerous thing for sitting members of Congress to do, and they should be held accountable, and that’s what the president wants to see.”
Democrats have condemned the president’s posts as escalating political tensions in the country and fueling potential violence against elected leaders.
“When the President of [the] United States spreads hate and lies, when he targets his political opponents, when he openly calls for the death of sitting Members of Congress, he is putting a literal target on our backs,” Crockett said in her statement.
She also said Thursday’s incident at her office illustrates why she needs security, as speaking out for her beliefs results in louder and more dangerous threats.
“I will continue to show up for the people of Texas’ 30th Congressional District,” Crockett said. “But we cannot pretend that this is normal. When leaders promote hate, hate shows up — sometimes right at our door.”
– This report contains material from the Associated Press
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