The vote came after Gosar released a photoshoped anime video on his Twitter and Instagram accounts in which he appeared to kill Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Democratic Republic of New York and attack President Joe Biden. Gosar later removed the video after receiving criticism, but did not apologize.
The Democrat-led action in the House of Representatives represents a great reprimand to Arizona Republicans while highlighting the gap between Kinzinger in Cheney, Wyoming and Illinois, and their GOP counterparts. The couple will serve on a select committee in the House of Representatives to investigate the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, and both lawmakers voted in favor of ousting former President Donald Trump to “incite rebellion” after the attack.
“Praising a proposal to kill a colleague is completely unacceptable. And I think it’s a clear violation of house rules. I think it’s a sad day,” Cheney told reporters as he walked from the floor of the house on Wednesday. “But I think it’s really important for us to make it clear that violence has no place in our political debate.”
Kinzinger, for his part, had anticipated his support for resolution a
Tweet Tuesday night. “We need to hold accountable the members who incite or praise the violence that spreads and perpetuates dangerous conspiracies. Failure will take us one step closer to this imagined violence that will become a reality,” he said.
GOP spokesman David Joyce of Ohio told CNN that he voted “present” for the resolution – meaning he did not vote “yes” or “no” – because the House of Representatives’ ethics committee is meeting to discuss the video that Gosar released.
Georgian Republican MPs Barry Loudermilk, Pennsylvania Scott Perry and Virginia Morgan Griffith did not vote.
Prior to Wednesday’s action, Gosar declined to answer his questions about the violent video tweet and walked quietly. He didn’t say if he regretted it, or explain internally his claim that he didn’t see the violent episode on the video until he tweeted it.
CNN’s Annie Grayer participated in this report.