U.S. House prepares vote to censure Republican for posting violent video By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) questions United States Park Police acting Chief Gregory T. Monahan during a U.S. House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Opening a Precious Metal Account and Sending Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 28, 2020. Bill Clark/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

By Moira Warburton and David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives was poised on Wednesday to censure one of its members for the first time in over a decade, with a vote to rebuke a Republican over an anime video that depicted him killing progressive Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and swinging two swords at President Joe Biden.

If the vote passes the Democratic-controlled House, Representative Paul Gosar will be called to the stand in the well of the chamber to hear his censure, as well as be stripped of two committee assignments. The move is likely to draw only a smattering of support from Republicans who have largely decried the Democrats' action as partisan politics.

Gosar posted an anime video https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-gosar/u-s-democrats-move-to-censure-republican-gosar-for-violent-video-idUSKBN2HX1UV this month that showed him killing Ocasio-Cortez. It was the latest instance of escalating violent rhetoric in Congress, 10 months after thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers prepared to certify his election defeat.

"What is so hard about saying this is wrong?" Ocasio-Cortez asked in debate before the vote. "Will we live up to the promises that we make our children, that this is a place where we will defend one another regardless of belief, that our core human dignity matters?"

Gosar, a staunch Trump ally and hardline conservative, rejected accusations that the video was "dangerous or threatening."

"There is no threat in the cartoon other than the threat that immigration poses to our country," he said, adding he did not advocate violence toward anyone.

The 62-year-old Arizona Republican has described the Trump followers who assaulted the Capitol as "peaceful patriots," voted against certifying Biden's 2020 election victory in January and backed Trump's false claims of a stolen election.

Democrats say the action is necessary because House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has refused to discipline Gosar. A censure is a symbolic reprimand that carries no fines or other penalties

House Republican leaders recommended but did not require their members vote no on the motion.

The resolution is expected to draw support from at least two Republicans who oppose Trump: Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who both sit on a House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

During debate on the motion, Democrats said no other workplace in the United States would permit one employee to post threatening videos of another.

McCarthy told reporters he did not know how many Republicans would vote in favor of Gosar's censure, and ignored a question on whether Gosar should face any other consequences.

The Republican leader repeatedly described Democrats' actions as "rules for thee but not for me" in arguing against the motion on the House floor.

"The speaker is burning down the House on her way out the door," he said of Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

House Democrats stripped firebrand Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-republicans/u-s-house-punishes-republican-congresswoman-over-incendiary-remarks-idUSKBN2A42IF of her committee assignments this year for incendiary remarks that included support for violence against Democrats.

The last time a U.S. House member was censured was 2010, when the action was taken against then-Democratic Representative Charles Rangel after he was found guilty of several ethics violations, including improper fundraising and inaccurate financial disclosure reports and federal tax returns.

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