Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) this week repeatedly defended his tweet that implied that America needed to have a military coup to remove President Donald Trump after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump held a summit with Putin on Monday, in which the 45th president declined to directly chastise Putin for allegedly trying to influence the 2016 presidential election, even when asked by an Associated Press (AP) reporter to do so. President Trump blamed the Russia investigation for some of the friction between the two countries.
In response to the summit, Rep. Cohen tweeted on Monday, “Where are our military folks? The Commander in Chief is in the hands of our enemy!”
Congressman Cohen then proceeded to tweet several times suggesting that he never implied that the military needs to intervene in light of the Trump-Putin summit.
The Tennessee Democrat complained that people on Twitter are jumping to conclusions over his vague tweet on Monday.
“Talk about jumping to conclusions without talking to source. No coup called for,” Cohen contended. “I seriously doubt anyone would use twitter to do .. one tweet if by land two if by sea…Wow.”
In another tweet, Cohen wrote, “Twitter is for tweets, not a coup.”
Now, in a tweet on Tuesday, Cohen said his inflammatory tweet was merely a call for “twitter comments from military.”
Cohen wrote:
So not true &so bad journalism,.You know I didn’t call for coup but sought twitter comments from military. Tweeted it 3 Times that not coup , very soon after false interpretation. Wouldn’t a reasonable person when such a tweet from a Congressman, call for clarification but NO.
Surprisingly, Rep. Cohen even blocked Breitbart News’s Sean Moran from viewing his Twitter account.
Cohen’s tweet on Monday is not the first time he has said something incendiary. Last week, Congressman Cohen said that disgraced Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent should receive a Purple Heart during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Armed service members receive the award when they are wounded in combat. The Democrat said that the Strzok deserved a Purple Heart for surviving attacks from Republicans that focused on his alleged anti-Trump bias.
Congressman Cohen said, “If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would. You deserve one. This has been an attack on you, in a way to attack Mr. Mueller, in the investigation that is to get at Russia collusion involved in our election.”
Similar to his Monday tweet, Cohen then walked back his assertion that Strzok should get a Purple Heart.
Rep. Cohen said, “My intent was to speak metaphorically to make a broader point about attacks against the FBI and Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation into a Russian attack on our country.”
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