Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), a first-term Congressman on the House Oversight Committee whose career includes time (while outside of Congress) helping prosecute Donald Trump’s first impeachment, is going after Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), linking the fellow New Yorker with insurrection.
Goldman unveiled a censure resolution targeting the prominent Trump ally for characterizing criminal detainees with cases originating in the Capitol riot as “hostages.” The truth is that many of the defendants charged over the Capitol violence of early 2021 have pleaded guilty, and another significant share were accused of serious offenses involving violence against police. This is who Stefanik is so concerned with deeming mistreated?
“January 6th was the gravest attack on American democracy since the Civil War and Congresswoman Stefanik’s persistent and continued support for the perpetrators of an insurrection is contemptuous,” Goldman said, adding: “By echoing Trump’s reference to the criminally convicted January 6 insurrectionists as ‘hostages,’ Congresswoman Stefanik both demeans the actual hostages currently held in captivity in Gaza and provides support for those who attacked the Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, caused the death of five law enforcement officers, injured more than 100 others, and threatened violence against members of Congress and their staffs. Her rhetoric betrays her oath of office and the House of Representatives and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
There’s an obvious level of subtext, further underscored by the language of the rest of that press release: the potential opening for other Republicans besides Trump to face serious challenges to their eligibility for office on the basis of claimed involvement with insurrection. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution blocks individuals from office who previously took an oath of office and then engaged in insurrection, something alleged of Trump in cases including a dispute now awaiting oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court next month. In that case, a series of decisions from Colorado courts deemed Trump to have engaged in insurrection via inciting January 6.
