As Democrats pressure cable companies & streaming services to de-platform Fox, Newsmax & OANN, Steve Scalise reminds them that gunman that nearly murdered him was motivated by politics and was a fan of MSNBC.
Yesterday, the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing where they tried to tie the Republicans to domestic terrorism while blaming conservative media outlets for “violent rhetoric”.
That hearing was called “Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media”.
Scalise spoke he noted that the gunmen who shot him and other Republican was motivated by politics.
“For anyone to just try to suggest that discourse just started getting out of control on January 6th would be disingenuous, when you look at where we’ve gotten and how far this has come.
I want to take you back to June 14, 2017, the day that a gunman walked onto a baseball field and shot at over a dozen members of Congress, including myself.
The FBI did a report. The gunman was motivated by hyper-charged rhetoric that he was hearing from the left. From high, prominent elected officials as well as media personalities.
There is a report that the FBI did where they included some of the writings of the gunman where he talked specifically about the people who motivated him and inspired him to commit this shooting, which would have been very deadly if he was successful without the bravery and heroism of the Capitol Police.
I say this to let you know that I don’t blame those other people, I blame the shooter. The shooter is the one who should be held accountable, and I’ve been very clear about that, but it’s an example that we all need to be aware of our rhetoric, we can all be doing a better job of toning down the rhetoric, but we also need to call it out where we see it, not just on the other side of the aisle but on both sides.
Just as I called out January 6th activities, I called out the violence I saw over the summer, when through hyper-charged rhetoric, people were burning down cities, were killing cops, killing other people. Let’s be consistent in calling it out, not trying to suggest disingenuously that it only comes from one side of the political spectrum… It’s not acceptable from the left or the right.”
Ahead of the hearing, Democratic California Reps. Anna Eshoo and Gerry McNerney sent a letter to 12 television broadcasters questioning why they offer Fox News, Newsmax and One America News to consumers. Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr slammed the letter, calling it a “chilling transgression.”