White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has blasted Republican lawmakers including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia while defending the rhetoric of President Joe Biden.
Jean-Pierre defended Biden during a White House press conference on Wednesday in the wake of criticism the president received for last week calling the ideology of Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump "semi-fascism." She then denounced what she characterized as Trump-inspired attacks on federal law enforcement and slammed recent rhetoric from several Republicans.
"Sadly, there are more examples than I can count of how we have seen recently armed attacks on federal law enforcement," said Jean-Pierre, before noting that GOP Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona had "posted videos depicting him attacking the president and members of Congress," which led to him being censured and removed from House committee assignments in December 2021.
Jean-Pierre then said that Greene had "publicly expressed support for shooting prominent Democratic elected officials," likely referring her social media activities before entering Congress. She also pointed out that the Georgia congresswoman had suggested "physically assaulting transgender school officials."
It was not entirely clear what Jean-Pierre was referring to regarding transgender school officials. However, during a February 20 interview with Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Greene spoke about reports claiming that gender nonbinary counselors at a camp in California shared a cabin with fifth-grade girls.
Greene then suggested a hypothetical scenario where her husband would "beat [a nonbinary camp counselor] into the ground" and argued that threats of violence were "exactly how we need to stand up" against trans and nonbinary people.
Jean-Pierre also blasted outgoing Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina for having said "falsely, if our election systems continue to be rigged and continue to be stolen, then it's going to lead to one place and that's bloodshed."
Jean-Pierre concluded her roundup of Republican rhetoric by focusing on DeSantis. The Florida governor said last week that he was "sick of seeing" Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden's chief medical adviser and the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who is retiring in December.
DeSantis responded to Fauci's retirement announcement by telling his cheering supporters that "someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac."
"Just last week, we had Governor Ron DeSantis, [who] suggested that Dr. Fauci should be physically assaulted," Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday. "And former President Trump has done the same many, many times."
During a private Democratic fundraising event in Maryland last Thursday, Biden reportedly said that current Republican ideology marked "either the beginning or the death knell of extreme MAGA philosophy," according to The Independent.
"It's not just Trump, it's the entire philosophy that underpins the — I'm going to say something, it's like semi-fascism," Biden said, according to the online newspaper.
Newsweek reached out to the offices of DeSantis, Greene, Gosar and Cawthorn for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
