The House voted Wednesday to censure Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona for posting an animated video that depicted him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden with a pair of swords, in an extraordinary rebuke that highlighted the political strains testing Washington and the country.
The day brought the post-Jan. 6 tensions in Congress to the fore and highlighted Republicans’ increasing tendency to defend their GOP colleagues against any criticism from Democrats, regardless of the behavior at issue.
Calling the video a clear threat to a lawmaker’s life, Democrats argued Gosar’s conduct would not be tolerated in any other workplace — and shouldn’t be in Congress.
The 223-to-207 vote, with one member voting present, marks the first time in more than a decade that the House has censured one of its members. The resolution also removed Gosar from his assignments on the House Oversight and Natural Resources committees.
“Disguising death threats against a member of Congress and a president of the United States in an animated video does not make those death threats any less real or less serious,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during Wednesday’s debate, describing GOP leaders’ refusal to reprimand Gosar as “outrageous.”
The vote to censure Gosar and also remove him from his committee assignments was approved by a vote almost entirely along party lines, with Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois the only Republicans voting in favor.
In a speech on the floor addressing the House of Representatives, Gosar said, “I do not espouse violence towards anyone. I never have. It was not my purpose to make anyone upset.”
Then late Wednesday shortly after the vote, he retweeted the video, which had been deleted a few days ago amid the criticism, making a mockery of his excuses and complaints about being victimized over trivialities.
Josh Barnett, a Republican candidate in Arizona’s 6th District, posted a message on Twitter stating that “Gosar did nothing wrong. These liberals are disgustingly hypocritical.”
Gosar’s altered video depicts him as the hero who battles the Titans alongside the altered images of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, two freshmen Republicans in Congress who support QAnon conspiracy theories and have often broken safety rules.
An animated version of Gosar, armed with swords, then appears with the title “attack of immigrants” and the cartoon video then depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden with swords.