House censures Gosar for video
WASHINGTON — A bitterly divided House of Representatives voted narrowly Wednesday to censure Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., for posting an animated video that depicted him killing a Democratic congresswoman and assaulting President Joe Biden.
The formal rebuke — the first censure since 2010 and only the 24th in the history of the republic — also stripped Gosar of his committee assignments.
The vote was 223-207, with just two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, joining Democrats in favor. One other Republican, Rep. David Joyce of Ohio, voted “present.”
The vote, and the incendiary, emotional and personal debate leading up to it, laid bare the divisions of the moment, when Democrats say they must speak out against vicious threats and imagery that could give rise to the kind of violence that unfolded during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. That attack hung heavily over Wednesday’s debate.
“When a member uses his or her national platform to encourage violence, tragically, people listen,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said, adding that “depictions of violence can foment actual violence, as witnessed by this chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.”
Republicans said the rapid move to pass a censure resolution belied the Democrats’ true agenda: silencing conservatives and tarring all Republicans with the violent wishes of a few.
“There’s an old definition of abuse of power: rules for thee but not for me,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader, said, repeating the phrase over and over. Going through a litany of House Democrats who have offended Republicans, he warned that every one of them might soon be serving — and potentially penalized — under the rules of a Republican-led House.
“It’s about control,” he said.
At that, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the target of the video’s violence, addressed McCarthy. “What is so hard about saying that this is wrong?” she demanded.
Gosar sat impassively in the chamber listening to most of the debate and stood to tell the House in a defiant speech, “I reject the false narrative categorically.”
In his video, Gosar is depicted slashing the neck of Ocasio-Cortez, amid imagery of violence meted out against hordes of refugees and migrants.