Donald Trump Has Issued 'Permission Slips' for Violence: Ex-Prosecutor

Donald Trump issued "permission slips" for violence, according to former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut.

Congressional Republicans' drama descended into chaos on Capitol Hill this week. One heated confrontation involving former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy allegedly turning physical, with a Senate hearing nearly growing violent. The events sparked new criticism directed at Republicans, who have faced scrutiny over dysfunction amid the battle to fund the government.

Aftergut connected the political violence directly back to the former president in an opinion article published in The Bulwark Thursday titled "Punching Politicians and Trump's Belligerence. In that opinion piece, he wrote this week's chaos "fits into larger patterns in the world of Donald Trump."

"Time and again, Trump has issued permission slips to those who practice violence. His fascination with the use of force, including by violent militias like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, is well documented. Tuesday's events can only really be understood in that larger context of Trump and violence," he wrote.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email.

Aftergut referred to several instances in which Trump has allegedly embraced violence, including his supporters chanting "Hang Mike Pence" at the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building, and his remarks that, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts" amid the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

He called on journalists to "not be shy about connecting the dots" between Trump's words and the "violent actions of his Republican followers."

"And the rest of us, remembering that normalizing small acts of political violence can create the climate for big ones, must keep calling out MAGA violence and those who are responsible for it," Aftergut wrote.

McCarthy, a California Republican, appeared to shove and elbow Rep. Tim Burchett, prompting a hallway chase at the Capitol on Tuesday, which was by reported NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales.

"Burchett lunged towards me. I thought it was a joke, it was not. And a chase ensued," Grisales wrote. The Tennessee Republican then followed McCarthy down a hallway and began yelling at him, asking why he hit him, according to Grisales.

Burchett was among the House Republicans to vote to remove McCarthy from his office last month after he worked with Democrats to pass legislation to temporarily fund the government through mid-November.

He told CNN: McCarthy made a "clean shot to the kidneys."

"I raised my voice to him. I thought it was appropriate and you just don't expect a guy who was, one-time, three steps away from the White House to hit you with a sucker punch in the hallway," Burchett said. "There's 435 congressmen, I was one of the eight that voted against him. That hallway, there was plenty of room[...]he chose to do what he did."

The same day, a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee nearly turned to blows during a tense change between Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin and Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien.

"You want to run your mouth? We can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here. You want to do it now?" Mullin said, after reading tweets the union leader had written about him in the past.

Mullin defended the confrontation, telling podcast host Kyle Thompson he is "not afraid of biting" during an appearance on Undaunted Life.