During a discussion of the House’s hearing on domestic terrorism on Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) responded to a question on conservative concerns that Democrats are trying to use the government “to target all conservatives and to lump us all in together with the worst and most extreme elements so that we could have the government target them on political grounds” by stating that most Republicans in the House voted to overturn the election results and didn’t do anything to stop inflammatory statements by former President Donald Trump and others, and “those who have participated by omission or commission deserve to be held accountable.”
Host Chris Hayes asked, “I want to give you the argument that conservatives have been making on this so you could respond to it, which broadly goes like this: They say, look, this is essentially a means for Democrats to sort of use the tools of the state to target all conservatives and to lump us all in together with the worst and most extreme elements so that we could have the government target them on political grounds. What’s your response to that?”
Demings responded, “Well, Chris, you know what I say? We know them by the fruits that they bear. And you talked about it earlier. The majority of persons in the Republican Party in the House of Representatives voted to overturn the election. When President Trump and his enablers were standing at the podium saying, go down to the Capitol, march down and fight like hell, prepare for war, prepare for combat, the same Republicans did absolutely nothing to stop it. As a matter of fact, after the Capitol was attacked and we reconvened, they went back to carrying the big lie. And so, I hear what they are saying. No, we’re not talking about everybody in the party, but those who have participated by omission or commission deserve to be held accountable.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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