By Moira Warburton and David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives was poised to punish a Republican lawmaker on Wednesday over an anime video that depicted him killing progressive Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and swinging two swords at President Joe Biden.
The House was slated to vote on a resolution to censure Representative Paul Gosar and strip him of two congressional committee assignments – a move 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 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.
Gosar, a staunch Trump ally and hardline conservative, removed the video from Twitter and Instagram but has offered no apology to Ocasio-Cortez, according to the Democratic lawmaker.
A 62-year-old Arizona Republican, Gosar described the Trump followers who assaulted the Capitol as “peaceful patriots”, voted against finalising Biden’s 2020 election victory in January and backed Trump’s claims of a stolen election.
If the censure measure were adopted, Gosar would be required to stand in the well of the House while the resolution is read. He would also be ejected from the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Oversight and Reform Committee, where he serves alongside Ocasio-Cortez.
Democrats say the action is necessary because House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has refused to discipline Gosar.
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.
House Democrats stripped firebrand Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments this year for incendiary remarks that included support for violence against Democrats.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Moira Warburton; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
