White House condemns lawmaker Gosar's violent images of colleague Ocasio-Cortez

[November 10, 2021]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is no place in the U.S. political system for the sort of violent images Congressman Paul Gosar spread about his colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona speaks during a panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S. February 27, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones

"There is absolutely no place ... for any violence of any sort in this political system," said Jean-Pierre, adding she would leaving it to Twitter to decide how to act. "This should not be happening, and we should be condemning it,” she said.

Gosar, a Republican lawmaker, posted an anime-style cartoon on Twitter depicting him swinging swords at President Joe Biden and Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, and killing her. The social media company put a warning on the post, but did not remove it.

Earlier in the day, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for investigations into Gosar's video. "Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated," Pelosi tweeted.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.