On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) argued that it’s “profoundly dangerous” to equate what he characterized as “somebody threw a brick through the Chase Bank in Portland,” with January 6.
Himes said, “[Y]ou just talked to Lee Zeldin, who, I will tell you, having served with him, is one of the more reasonable members of the Republican Party, but he did two profoundly dangerous things: Number one, it was this sort of, oh, it’s all the same stuff, oh, look at Portland, and somebody threw a brick through the Chase Bank in Portland, that’s just like January 6. It’s nothing like January 6.”
Later, he stated that “we should all, as elected political leaders, be a little more careful about the language used.” He specifically said that rhetoric from Democrats about then-President George W. Bush “destroying” the country and vowing to take the country back are examples of language that shouldn’t be used.
In an earlier segment, former Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin (R-NY) said, “I remember the streets of Minneapolis, a Portland courthouse getting targeted in 2020.”
In 2020, a federal courthouse in Portland was targeted, resulting in $1.6 million in damages and hundreds of injuries to federal officers according to federal officials.
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