House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) believes the appropriate response to Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-Ariz.) decision to share a controversial anime video would have been to expel him from Congress.
“When someone sends out a tweet or any other illustration of him or her murdering somebody on the House floor. That, to me, goes far beyond the pale. And that person should not even be a member of this body,” Clyburn told CNN on Wednesday morning.
Clyburn went on to note that two of Gosar’s estranged siblings have called for him to be kicked out of Congress while others have urged voters not to reelect him. The South Carolina Congressman added, “I think it would have been the right thing to do to move to expel him.”
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House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) ahead of vote today on resolution to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) for tweeting anime video depicting him killing Rep. AOC (D-NY):
— The Recount (@therecount) November 17, 2021
"… that person should not even be a member of this body." pic.twitter.com/ojqalKGpUa
On Nov. 8, Gosar shared the controversial video, as IJR reported.
He tweeted, “Any anime fans out there?”
The video depicts Gosar attacking Ocasio-Cortez and running toward Biden with swords.
Clyburn’s comments come as the House is slated to vote on a resolution that would censure Gosar and strip him of his committee assignments.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told CNN, “He took the video down, and he made a statement that he doesn’t support violence to anybody. Nobody should have violence [against them].”
“I called him when I heard about the video, and he made a statement that he doesn’t support violence, and he took the video down.”
However, the network noted McCarthy did “not directly condemn Gosar’s behavior.”
During his appearance on CNN on Wednesday, Clyburn criticized Congressional Republicans for being “totally silent” about Gosar’s tweet. He said, “What is that about? I just don’t understand how we can, as members of Congress, expect for the public to respect us when we don’t demonstrate the respect ourselves.”