- Trump
demands arrest and trial of six Democrats over video. - Lawmakers
urged military and intelligence to refuse illegal orders. - Trump
calls their actions “seditious behavior” punishable by death.
In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump called for the
arrest and trial of Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, as well as Reps. Jason
Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Maggie Goodlander, and Chris Deluzio, following their
release of a videotape encouraging US military labor force and intelligence
officers to defy orders that would be illegal.
Schumer connected Trump’s statements to other cases of
political violence, similar as the assault on the US Capitol on January 6,
2021.
“Let’s be crystal clear, the President of the United
States is calling for the execution of elected officials. This is an outright
threat, and it’s deadly serious,”
Schumer said on the Senate floor.
“We have already seen what happens when Donald Trump
tells his followers that his political opponents are enemies of the state. …
When Donald Trump uses the language of execution and treason, some of his
supporters may very well listen,”
he said.
Schumer urged
the public and members of both parties to denounce the president’s remarks
“immediately and without qualification.”
“Who would have thought the President of the United
States saying his opponents should be hanged. It’s outrageous. No president has
ever stooped as low as Donald Trump. None! He has made political violence a
feature of his politics, and if we don’t draw a line here, there’s no line left
to draw,”
he said.
Trump crossed
“yet another line that no democracy can
afford to tolerate,”
according to Schumer, who called for a coordinated
reaction.
“He must be condemned forcefully, loudly and without
excuses before someone takes his words as permission to do the unthinkable.
Anything less enables the flames of hatred to grow and spread,”
Schumer stressed.
How has Congress responded to calls for violence against
lawmakers?
Popular leaders similar as House Minority Leader Hakeem
Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark, Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, and Senator
Chuck Schumer issued strong, unified statements denouncing Trump’s rhetoric
as” disgusting,”” dangerous,” and inciting political
violence. They called on Trump to incontinently cancel his posts and for
Republicans to condemn the pitfalls strongly.
Both parties recognize that political violence pitfalls are
raising, with numerous lawgivers calling for bipartisan commination and
critical measures to cover members of Congress. Congress has responded with
sharp excoriations of pitfalls inciting violence, calls for responsibility for
seditious rhetoric, and way to enhance the security and safety of
lawgivers.
Some House Republicans, including House Speaker Mike
Johnson, played down the rhetoric as not constituting incitement but conceded
legal and security enterprises.
