In remarks on the floor of the U.S. House, a Democrat member of Congress from Tennessee made hyperbolic claims about the mostly peaceful protests at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on January 6.
“This was an assault on the Constitution, an assault on Congress, it was a felonious assault,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) said Tuesday evening. “It was [an] attempt to murder Congress and our processes to elect our President of the United States.”
“It is the political equivalent of shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, and getting away with it,” he said, “and somebody needs to stand up to that.”
More than 80 people have been arrested since the protests, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has promised that more arrests will follow.
Cohen posted the video of his rant to his Twitter page, calling for the removal of President Donald J. Trump from office via the 25th Amendment, and threatening a second impeachment.
“We must remove him immediately,” he said. Tonight we demand the Cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment. Tomorrow we impeach. Again.”
This felonious assault on Congress is the political equivalent of shooting someone on Fifth Avenue and getting away with it. We can’t let Trump get away with it.
We must remove him immediately. Tonight we demand the Cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment. Tomorrow we impeach. Again. pic.twitter.com/8MPxXmHUDk
— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) January 13, 2021
Cohen predictably joined his Democrat colleagues in calling for Trump’s removal or impeachment, but in terms of rhetoric, he joined the fringe members of his party in embellishing what actually happened at the Capitol last week.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) ratcheted up the hyperbole on in a video on Instagram Tuesday.
“I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Not just in a general sense, but in a very, very specific sense.”
Though she said she couldn’t provide details “due to security concerns,” she told her followers “I thought I was going to die.”
Most protestors who have been charged for their roles in the event, have been charged with non-violent crimes, like “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.” Some protestors, like Eric Gavelek Munchel of Tennessee, have been charged with “violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds,” which, despite the name of the charge, is a property crime.
There has only been one report of a protestor carrying a weapon. Richard Barnett of Arkansas, the man photographed sitting at the desk of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is accused of carrying a stun gun.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Capitol Protest” by Tyler Merbler. CC BY 2.0.
Memphis is so incompetent they could not even run their own school system…That is why they keep reelecting a moron like Cohen, he’s one of their own!
I can see that all of you Tennesseeans are sooooo proud of Steve Cohen…
Here’s a proposition: you send him up to Massachusetts, and, in return, we send you our entire Congressional delegation…9 Representatives and 2 Senators (including Pocahantas) and not a single functioning brain cell in the entire lot. Does that sound like a fair trade?
That is like choosing your own method of execution!
Congress has been an assault on the constitution, our Bill of Rights and the rule of law for decades.
Cohen should be censured and expelled from congress.