New York Republican Rep Elise Stefanik is under fire from Democrats for labelling January 6 prisoners “hostages,” echoing Donald Trump.
Ahead of the third anniversary of the Capitol riot, in a campaign speech in Sioux Center, Iowa, Mr Trump referred to individuals arrested and charged in connection to the Capitol attack as “J6 hostages.” He claimed, “Nobody’s been treated ever in history so badly as those people.”
On Sunday, Congresswoman Stefanik used the same language on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She said, “I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages.”
In response, high-profile figures in politics denounced her remarks.
Maryland Rep Jamie Raskin, who sat on the House select committee investigating January 6, wrote on X: “People convicted of violently assaulting police officers and conspiring to overthrow the government are not ‘hostages.’”
He then demanded that his colleague “apologize to the families of 130 people being held hostage by Hamas right now. Her pandering to Trump is dangerous.”
California Congressman Eric Swalwell also chimed in: “How sick that as real American hostages are held in Gaza, Stefanik puts January 6 terrorists in the same category.”
Douglas London, a CIA veteran, remarked, “Stefanik, parroting Trump, referring to those being prosecuted for dragging police officers down the [Capitol] steps and beating them with fire hydrants and US flags as HOSTAGES, frightens me more than any threat I faced as a CIA officer from any foreign adversary.”
Former Virginia Rep Barbara Comstock also expressed outrage: “Elise sounds like the hostage.”
Former White House official David Axelrod also commented, “Once a thoughtful center right Rep., she read the prevailing winds within the[GOP] and went full Trumpee & enthusiastic pervayer [sic] of falsehoods & conspiracy theories.”
The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC, issued a statement: “J6 prisoners are not hostages or heroes. They are radicalized terrorists who were doing the bidding of the most anti-democratic man to ever hold office in the history of our nation.”
The super PAC then slammed Ms Stefanik as “desperately pleading for the attention and favor of” the former president. “She is an embarrassment to the office she holds and to the oath she has taken to defend this nation against enemies foreign and domestic,” the statement continued.
In the same interview, the New York congresswoman also refused to commit to certifying 2024 election results. When host Kristen Welker asked if that meant she wouldn’t confirm the results unless Mr Trump won, the Republican lawmaker clarified: “No, it means if they’re constitutional. What we saw in 2020 was unconstitutional circumventing of the Constitution, not going through state legislators when it comes to changing election law.”
Welker also asked Ms Stefanik if she was “comfortable” with Mr Trump’s Hitler-like comments in recent months, such as when he claimed that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of the country.” She replied, “We have the media which is so biased, which is reiterating whatever the talking points the Biden campaign is giving.”
She added, “Our border crisis is poisoning Americans through fentanyl... So yes, I stand by President Trump.”
