Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., under fire for a photoshopped anime video depicting him killing progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., reportedly said it was not meant to encourage violence.
According to The Hill, Gosar offered the explanation during a closed-door GOP conference meeting, the first gathering of House Republicans since he posted the video during the Veterans Day recess last week.
The post was taken down and Democrats are considering voting to censure him this week after Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., a co-chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus, introduced a resolution.
Gosar has insisted he does not support violence against fellow members of Congress, removed the video from Twitter and asserted he did not see the violence in the photoshopped anime video before it was posted to his Twitter feed.
"It was not his intent to ever harm anybody," said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters, The Hill reported.
"What I said to conference was, [we] cannot accept any action or showing of violence to another member," McCarthy said.
The Hill noted Democrats have not decided whether to bring Speier's resolution to the House floor this week. A vote would make Gosar only the 24th House member to be censured in the chamber's history, and the first in more than a decade, the news outlet reported.
"We're discussing what actions are appropriate," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday, the news outlet reported.
"This action is unacceptable, and inaction by the Republicans is unacceptable," he said.
Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., have already signaled they would support a censure, The Hill reported.
Meanwhile, some hard-right Republicans are pushing to take away committee assignments from the 13 House GOP lawmakers who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this month, The Hill reported.
McCarthy disagrees.
"I'm opposed to any person getting any death threat or security problem whatsoever," McCarthy told reporters, The Hill reported.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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