OFFICIAL UNDER FIRE FOR QUIPS ABOUT WITCHES, ASSASSINATION

Ron Weiser, chair of Michigan’s Republican Party, drew swift criticism Friday after a video surfaced that showed him calling top Democratic officials in his state “witches” and referring to assassination while discussing two Republican congressmen who had voted to impeach former President Donald Trump.

The video was taken at a local Republican meeting in Clarkston, Mich., Thursday. At the meeting, Weiser talked about his party needing to vote out three top Democratic officials: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; Dana Nessel, the state attorney general; and Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state.

In the video, Weiser can be heard calling the officials the “three witches.”

“Our job now is to soften up those three witches and make sure we have good candidates to run against them, that they are ready for the burning at the stake,” Weiser said about the women, all of whom are up for re-election in 2022.

Also, in discussing intraparty politics, Weiser joked about assassination in response to a crowd member’s question about supporting potential opponents running against U.S. Reps. Fred Upton and Peter Meijer, Michigan Republicans who voted in favor of impeaching Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection.

“Other than assassination, I have no other way than voting them out,” he said.

Democratic officials responded to Weiser’s comments Friday, denouncing them as similar to the rhetoric that fueled a plot to kidnap Whitmer before the 2020 presidential election.

Weiser responded to the criticism on Twitter, saying that his remarks had been “taken out of context.”

Ron Weiser