Democratic Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson asserted that people who mock members of Congress online should face prosecution.
“Those people who are online making fun of members of Congress are a disgrace, and there is no need for anyone to think that is unacceptable [sic],” Wilson said during comments made Tuesday outside of the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Florida.
“We’re gonna shut them down and work with whoever it is to shut them down, and they should be prosecuted,” she continued. “You cannot intimidate members of Congress, frighten members of Congress. It is against the law, and it’s a shame in this United States of America.”
ProPublica on Monday publicized posts made by Border Patrol agents in a private Facebook group that disparaged migrants and some members of Congress, such as Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Wilson then went on to blame President Trump for causing people to lose respect for Congress, the media, and the White House.
A May 2019 Gallup poll recorded a 20% approval rating for Congress, whose approval rating has not hit 30% in 10 years.
Wilson has long been a critic of the president, whom she has claimed is “crazy” and suffering from “a brain disorder.” She waded into a public feud with the White House in October 2017, when she listened in on a phone call that Trump made to Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in the line of duty in Niger on Oct. 4, 2017. Wilson claimed that Trump told the Gold Star widow that her husband “knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt.”
The White House denied her characterization of the phone call, with then-White House chief of staff John Kelly saying he was “stunned” that a member of Congress would listen to and publicize such a private conversation.
Wilson later laughed that the incident had made her “a rock star.“
