Although Mike Lee opposes ousting Trump, he suggests censoring the Liberal congresswoman

Although Utah Sen. Mike Lee opposes the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, he calls for censorship by Liberal Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for tweeting that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tried to “kill -me ”helping to put himself in danger. protesters who stormed the Capitol.

“It struck me that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent a tweet a few hours ago accusing one of our colleagues – twice – of attempted murder,” wrote Lee, who has been a Cruz’s close ally for years. .

“I think that, as a conference, we should ask him immediately and publicly to retract his statement and apologize. If she refuses to do so, and perhaps even if not, I think she should be reprimanded or censored by the House.

Conn Carroll, Lee’s spokesman, said the federalist report was accurate, but declined to provide the letter or comment further. “Conference communications are usually confidential and we will respect this custom,” he said.

The dust came after Ocasio-Cortez began a series of tweets asking for hearings to investigate the Robinhood stock trading app. This happened when the company had temporarily suspended trading of several stock purchases after online users began inflating GameStop shares to undermine hedge funds.

Cruz said in a tweet that he agreed to that call, but the congresswoman responded that she does not want his help.

“[Y]I was almost murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit on this one. Happy to work with just about any other GOP who isn’t trying to kill me, ”he tweeted.

This was an apparent reference to the riots and storms of the United States Capitol on 6 January. Cruz was one of the leaders in the effort to overturn the results of the Electoral College that day. While the House accused Trump of allegations of inciting rioting, others have also said members of Congress who tried to overturn the election share the blame.

Ocasio-Cortez also told Cruz in his tweet:[I]if you want to help, you can give up “.

Lee was not the only one to take action against the New York congresswoman. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying that if Ocasio-Cortez does not apologize, Republicans will find other ways to condemn his statement.

“If Representative Ocasio-Cortez does not apologize immediately, we will be forced to find alternative means to condemn this unfortunate statement,” Roy wrote. “I sincerely hope that we all stop this strong rhetoric and move forward to really do the work that the American people sent us here.”

While Lee condemns Ocasio-Cortez for saying Cruz tried to kill her through actions that may have caused riots, he opposed an indictment trial for Trump this week accused of inciting the riot. He did so in a vote on whether the removal of a president who has already left office is constitutional and he was one of 45 Republicans who voted unconstitutional.

Lee issued a brief explanatory statement after that vote.

“If the Senate adopted a broad interpretation of the power of dismissal: it would allow federal officials to be convicted of dismissal charges even after leaving office,” Lee said in a prepared statement, “the result would not only be problematic, but also contrary to the text, structure and historical understanding of the Constitution. “

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was one of only five Republicans to vote that the procedure is constitutional. It indicates that Trump will probably not be convicted, because 17 Republicans would have to join the 50 Senate Democrats to get the necessary two-thirds majority.