House votes to censure Paul Gosar for video attacking Biden, AOC

The House of Representatives voted to censure Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) Wednesday in response to a video made by Rep. Gosar’s staff. It depicts Gosar violently attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and President Joe Biden.

“There is absolutely no place for, of any kind of, no place for any violence of any sort in this political system,” White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this month. “It should not be happening and we should be condemning it.”

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) introduced the resolution. In a Tuesday interview, she said the video “crossed the line”.

“He’s promoting the killing of a seated member of Congress,” Rep. Speier said. “We cannot allow members of Congress to promote violence against other members of Congress.”

Ahead of the censure vote, Gosar had said he does not apologize for the video.

“This video had nothing to do with harming anybody,” Gosar said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s an anime. We were trying to reach out to the newer generation that likes these anime.”

He was supported by the group Americans for Limited Government.

“Any effort to remove Rep. Gosar from his committee is little more than partisan hackery and should be rejected,” Americans for Limited Government President Richard Manning said in a statement, according to a tweet from Gosar.

A censure resolution is the most severe form of punishment in the House, and they don’t pass often. Gosar has become just the 24th representative to ever be censured. The last censure resolution was approved in 2010, when former Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) was censured for financial misconduct.

Wednesday’s vote means Gosar will be removed from the Natural Resources committee and the Oversight and Reform committee. Rep Ocasio-Cortez is also on the Oversight and Reform committee.

Gosar is now the second Republican without any committee assignments. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had assignments stripped back in February after she was accused of spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories.