Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) claimed violence on the left is “far more prevalent” when asked about a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter being charged with threatening to assassinate House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
A Capitol rioter, who was pardoned as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons for Jan. 6 participants earlier this year, was charged with threatening Jeffries’s life at an event in New York on Monday, CBS reported.
“I will tell you this, the violence on the left is far more prevalent than the violence on the right,” Johnson said Tuesday. “Don’t make me go through the list, you all know it. All of these assassinations, the assassination culture that’s been advanced now, this is the left in almost every case that is advancing this and not the right.”
Johnson pointed the rhetoric back to the left when asked if the blanket pardons were a mistake and went on to say the “No Kings” rallies last weekend “triggered” people.
“The rhetoric that you saw on display on Saturday, we highlighted yesterday, it plays into this,” he said. “There are people that get triggered.”
Jeffries responded to the threat on Tuesday morning in a statement saying he is thankful for state and federal law enforcement for stopping the assassination attempt.
“The person arrested, along with thousands of violent felons who stormed the US Capitol during the January 6th attack, was pardoned by Donald Trump on the President’s very first day in office,” Jeffries said in the statement. “Since the blanket pardon that occurred earlier this year, many of the criminals released have committed additional crimes throughout the country.”
This threat comes just weeks after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as political violence and rhetoric have worsened in recent years.
JOSH SHAPIRO CALLS ON WHITE HOUSE NOT TO ‘CHERRY-PICK’ POLITICAL VIOLENCE TO CONDEMN
Kirk’s assassination was not the only act of political violence in this year. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D-PA) residence was set on fire earlier this year, and other high-profile assassinations included UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and Democratic Speaker of the Minnesota House Melissa Hortman and her husband.
“During moments like this, I believe we have a responsibility to be clear and unequivocal in calling out all forms of political violence and making clear it is all wrong; that shouldn’t be hard to do,” Shapiro said following the assassination of Kirk last month. “Unfortunately, some from the dark corners of the internet all the way to the Oval Office want to cherry-pick which instances of political violence they want to condemn.”
