House Dems tee up vote to censure Rep. Paul Gosar over AOC, Biden attack tweet
House Democrats will vote Wednesday on a resolution to censure and remove from his committee assignments Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona for tweeting an animated video that depicted him striking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword and attacking President Biden.
Gosar and New York’s Democratic Socialist Ocasio-Cortez, better know as AOC, both sit on the House Oversight committee. He also currently serves as the ranking member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Gosar came under fire after tweeting the anime video clip with the caption “Any anime fans out there?” just over a week ago, but deleted the post after speaking with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and released a statement saying he does not support violence, arguing it was “a symbolic portrayal of a fight over immigration policy.”
Top Democrats argued that Gosar was inciting violence against members across the aisle, with Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) introducing the censure resolution on Friday, which has garnered the support of at least 60 Democrats. A small number of Republicans also said they are open to supporting the measure.
Ocasio-Cortez told reporters that neither Gosar nor McCarthy have reached out to her following the controversy, adding that Gosar has “doubled down” on his defense of the tweet.
McCarthy called on members of his conference to remain unified behind Gosar remaining on the panel during a closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Gosar explained anime to the conference and argued that it could be used to broaden their outreach to voters, according to sources in the room.
The tweet is not the first controversy the Arizona Republican has been embroiled in this year, having come under fire for fundraising with a white nationalist in June.
While members including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) were removed from their committee assignments following controversial, inflammatory remarks, Gosar would be the first member in more than a decade.
