WASHINGTON (WWNY) – A congressman from New York City is calling for a censure of north country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik after comments she made earlier this month.
In a recent appearance on “Meet the Press,” Stefanik said, “I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages.”
Stefanik drew criticism from Democrats for that phrase, “January 6th hostages.”
Now, Congressman Dan Goldman is moving that Stefanik be censured for it.
“It is the culmination of a rhetoric that has gone too far and that we cannot allow members of Congress to use when we should be held to a higher standard,” Goldman said.
Goldman says referring to the people arrested in the January 6 Capitol riot as hostages showcases a lack of integrity on Stefanik’s part. He also says it draws insensitive parallels with last October’s kidnapping of more than 100 hostages by Hamas militants near the border between Israel and Gaza.
“It is the reflection of a sad state of affairs from someone who entered Congress as a really reasonable, rational, moderate, thoughtful, bipartisan Republican,” he said.
In response to the resolution, Stefanik’s office put out a pair of statements calling Goldman a “corrupt radical New York Democrat,” citing alleged unethical stock trading, his support for New York Attorney General Letitia James, a statement where Goldman called for former President Donald Trump to be “eliminated,” and Goldman’s comments on the 2018 Georgia election, for which Stefanik’s office calls him an “election denier.”
“Unfortunately, she and her co-leaders in the Republican party are more interested in making ad hominem insults against members like me than they are in doing the work we were sent here to do,” Goldman said.
In order for Stefanik to be censured, a majority of Congress would have to vote for the resolution. Goldman says he believes there’s enough Republicans on the fence to be swayed.
Meanwhile, Stefanik is expected be campaigning with Donald Trump in New Hampshire on Friday, ahead of the state’s primary next Tuesday.
Stefanik has long been rumored to be a top candidate for Trump’s running mate in this year’s presidential election.