“Pro-Terrorist”: Dem Congressman Smears Protesters Calling for Cease-Fire in Gaza

U.S. tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict are continuing to boil.

On Wednesday, a Democratic congressman opted to describe a lock-on protest at the DNC calling for a cease-fire in Gaza with inflammatory language, snubbing it as “pro-terrorist.”

“Was just evacuated from the #DNC after pro-terrorist, anti-#Israel protestors grew violent, pepper spraying police officers and attempting to break into the building,” said California Representative Brad Sherman on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Sherman immediately received blowback online from journalists and protesters alike, who categorically refuted the claims in Sherman’s post and argued that the mass-recorded event at the Democratic National Committee headquarters illustrated no evidence of protesters spraying police, but rather the other way around.

“Yeah, Sherman is wrong. I was outside the building and saw a USCP officer spray protesters, not vice versa,” responded Semafor’s David Weigel, linking a video that shows officers shoving and spraying an aerosol into a tightly packed crowd several times before walking into their own line of fire.

“They blocked the entrances; they didn’t try to storm the offices,” Weigel continued in another post.

A Democratic strategist also questioned the validity of a statement issued by Capitol Police following the protest, which noted that officers were “treated for injuries—ranging from minor cuts to being pepper sprayed to being punched.”

“So did the police at the DNC protest injure … themselves?” posted senior Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid, who had previously worked for Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sharing a clip documenting a Capitol Police officer hitting another officer in the back while setting up a metal blockade.

Protest organizers estimate that at least 90 people were injured in the clashes with police.

The war between Israel and Hamas is now halfway through its sixth week. Only 31 members of Congress have called for a cease-fire, and a report indicated that many Democratic congressmen are actively ignoring phone calls from constituents asking for a cease-fire.

Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported that more than 11,100 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict so far—or one out of every 200 people—with most of the dead being women and children. Approximately 240 hostages still remain in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 attack, killing 1,200 people.

Nevada’s attorney general is investigating six Republicans, including the state Republican Party chair, who pretended to be state electors in 2020 to hand the election to Donald Trump.

Democratic state Attorney General Aaron Ford had previously said he would not investigate the case. But in recent weeks, investigators from his office have begun asking witnesses about the six operatives’ efforts to present themselves as legitimate electors, Politico reported Wednesday.

Ford has kept the investigation relatively quiet. Neither he nor his office has yet to publicly comment on the probe.

After Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, Republicans in seven highly contested states launched attempts to overturn the results. GOP operatives signed certificates falsely stating they were the state’s Electoral College representatives and tried to claim that Trump had won their state.

Many of the fake electors were highly ranked state Republicans. The Nevada fake electors included Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald.

Nevada is now the fourth state to launch an investigation into the fake electors scheme. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 people in July with felonies for pretending to be 2020 electors. The accused include state Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock and state Republican National Committeewoman Kathy Berden.

There are also investigations going on in Arizona and Georgia, where Trump and his allies have also been indicted for trying to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. The other states where Republicans tried to overthrow the results—New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—have yet to publicly announce whether they will probe the fake elector plot.

The plan to use fake electors was initially thought of by lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who was indicted in Georgia, and then eventually taken over by Trump lawyer John Eastman. An internal memo reveals that Chesebro knew his “bold, controversial strategy” would “likely” be rejected by the Supreme Court.

But the point of Chesebro’s plan was not actually to pass legal and judicial scrutiny. Instead, the goal was to increase the spotlight on the baseless claims of voter fraud and to give Trump’s campaign more time to win its multiple lawsuits challenging the vote results. Judges threw out every single one of those lawsuits because they had no basis.

One of the biggest political operations in Washington is gearing up to take down the Squad, the Democratic cohort that has heralded progressive policies from the Green New Deal to tuition-free college, throwing major dollars behind primary challengers they believe can unseat them in their 2024 reelection campaigns.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is expected to spend at least $100 million in the Democratic primaries in an effort to knock out the seven “Squad” members, reported Slate. They include Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, and Summer Lee—all Black and brown members of Congress who have been vocal critics of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Israeli lobby’s counter effort will likely only be the beginning of a very tumultuous battle for the Squad to retain their seats. Affiliated super PACs, including the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC and the Mainstream Democrats PAC, are also expected to throw cash at the drive to unseat the seven, who have been outspoken in their opposition to Israel’s occupation and continued military bombardment of Palestine.

The United Democracy Project super PAC has already launched a six-figure ad campaign against Bowman, Lee, and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie after the trio voted against a House resolution to stand with Israel against Hamas.

And Bush, Bowman, Lee, and Omar are already facing Democratic primary opponents in their districts, still a year out from the election, thanks in large part due to the aggressive recruiting efforts and expenditures from AIPAC.

Representative Chip Roy went scorched earth on his Republican colleagues on Wednesday, haranguing them for years wasted on inaction and chaos as opposed to doing their jobs.

The Texas Republican and Freedom Caucus member spent his time on the House floor on Wednesday shouting and wildly gesticulating at his caucus, condemning them for capitulating on promises by working with Democrats and lamenting the party’s transparently vacuous approach to building a border wall.

“One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing. One. That I can go campaign on and say we did,” Roy said. “One!”

“Anybody sitting in the complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides well, ‘I guess it’s not as bad as the Democrats,’” Roy lamented.

The House GOP finally passed a stopgap spending solution on Tuesday, after months spent ousting their own speaker and bickering over who to replace him with. That bill is now headed to the U.S. Senate, where it will face another round of criticism, just two days ahead of a potential government shutdown.

On Tuesday, Roy argued that the latest bill is “precisely” what got former Speaker Kevin McCarthy booted from the job.

“I am sick and tired of it. I didn’t come here for second place. I didn’t come here for more excuses. I didn’t come here for the speaker of the House to assume the position, and in 17 days, pass a continuing resolution on the floor of this House through suspension of the rules,” Roy fumed during his speech on the House floor.

He then took a jab at Donald Trump, criticizing conservatives for failing to meet their policy goals even when the party had the majority in the House, Senate, and White House during Trump’s presidency.

“With all due respect to former President Trump, they sure as hell didn’t get border security done when we had the White House and the House and the Senate,” Roy said. “Nothing!”

“Talked a big game about building a wall and having Mexico pay for it. Ain’t no wall and Mexico didn’t pay for it, and we didn’t pass any border security,” he added.

Representative Clay Higgins on Wednesday resurrected the conspiracy theory that the FBI was behind the January 6 attack, but he added a fun new twist: “ghost buses.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Homeland Security Committee to testify about global threats. During the hearing, Higgins brought up the conspiracy theory that the January 6 insurrection was started by FBI agents posing as Donald Trump supporters.

Although Wray said that was “emphatically not” the case, Higgins kept pushing.

“Do you know what a ‘ghost vehicle’ is, Director? You’re director of the FBI, you certainly should. You know what a ‘ghost bus’ is?” the Louisiana Republican asked.

When Wray said he didn’t, Higgins explained: “It’s a vehicle that’s used for secret purposes. It’s painted over,” he said, showing a photo of buses parked at Union Station in Washington, D.C., the night before the attack.

Higgins insisted that two of the buses had their windows completely painted over and were therefore ghost buses.

“These buses are nefarious in nature and were filled with FBI informants dressed as Trump supporters, deployed onto our capital on January 6,” he said. “Your day is coming, Mr. Wray.”

Republicans have repeatedly insisted that FBI agents and informants were secretly behind the insurrection, so that they don’t have to admit that Trump and his supporters were responsible. This claim has been repeatedly debunked by the FBI and by people arrested in connection with the riot.

Hundreds of people arrested for participating in the January 6 attack said they went to Washington because they felt Trump had personally told them to. Others who were smeared as FBI agents, such as Capitol rioter Ray Epps, have testified that they were not connected to any law enforcement agencies.