During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union over the weekend, New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu indicated that he was in support of the censure of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and his concurrent removal from his committee spots in the House. Gosar faced these punishments after he posted an edited, partly animated video showing him murdering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging swords at President Joe Biden.
Don't think it's asking for too much for a U.S. Congressman to not make videos depicting him killing his colleagues and potentially the President. Don't think it's asking for too much for there to be consequences if he does. https://t.co/3rMB4qCHrW
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) November 21, 2021
Although certain Republican allies of his including House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) have acted as though Gosar apologized, he didn’t — instead, he’s remained resolute to the point of claiming that the video “directly contributes to the understanding and the discussion of the real-life battle resulting from this administration’s open border policies,” which is ridiculous. Sununu, meanwhile, commented as follows:
‘I think politics in its entirety on both sides of the aisle in Washington is screwed up. I mean, it really is. They got their priorities all wrong; they focus on the wrong things; they don’t talk about balancing budgets. They don’t talk about fixing health care, immigration reform — Social Security and Medicare are going to be broken in about 10 years. You better get around to fixing that, because I have elderly citizens that are counting on those types of programs. And instead, we spend all of our time focusing on these nitpicky things, and I think, when a Congressman says those things… of course they have to be censured for that. Of course they have to be held to bear for that.’
“From all the information we’ve learned, I believe my brother to be a co-conspirator in a coup attempt against the United States government. So I think expulsion is actually the most appropriate next step,” says Jennifer Gosar, younger sister of Rep. Gosar https://t.co/MygMjK6hGw
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 20, 2021
After host Dana Bash cut in to point out to the governor that it “sounds to me like you said that Paul Gosar should have been censured and stripped of his committees,” Sununu replied with an emphatic “yes.” Bash then asked whether the governor found it “okay for Republicans to support a bipartisan infrastructure bill,” and Sununu again replied in the affirmative. (Republicans who supported the bill have faced pushback from within the party.) It’s worth noting that, according to recent polling, Sununu is one of the most popular governors in the entire country, with 67 percent of voters within his state approving of the job that he’s doing — even as he serves as a Republican in a state won by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Watch Sununu’s comments on CNN below:
CNN's Dana Bash: "It sounds to me like you said that Paul Gosar should have been censured and stripped of his committees."
GOP NH Gov. Chris Sununu: "Yes."
Bash: "And it’s okay for Republicans to support a bipartisan infrastructure bill?"
Sununu: "Of course." pic.twitter.com/jY7ZMrnC1T
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 21, 2021
