Slurs thrown at congressman seeking impeachment

USA TODAY

A black Texas congressman says callers have threatened to lynch him after he announced his intention to pursue impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, delivered a fiery speech Wednesday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he called on his colleagues to impeach Trump over his firing of FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing an investigation into ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials. Green called that move a glaring case of obstruction of justice.

Green said a torrent of violent, racist messages soon followed, some of which he played at a town hall Saturday. In video posted online, two callers repeatedly call him the N-word, with one vowing to hang him from a tree.

The seven-term Democrat told the crowd he decided to air the recordings to show his constituents the threats he’s facing every day.

“When a person talks about lynching you, we think that’s a pretty serious threat,” Green said, according to the Houston Chronicle.