Indiana state Rep. Andrew Ireland, a Republican, is downplaying the idea that President Donald Trump’s social media attacks have any real influence on people making threats against lawmakers in his state.
Indiana Republicans who are unwilling to redraw congressional lines mid-cycle to help the GOP maintain the House majority are now facing swatting attempts and bomb threats, but Ireland insists these incidents are unrelated to Trump’s rhetoric on Truth Social.
"There's no evidence that traces these threats directly to posts or comments by Trump or anyone else," said CNN host Brianna Keilar. "But certainly the president hasn't done anything to tamp that down. He actually posted on social media attacking two lawmakers. One of them was the victim of a swatting attack hours later, in which someone called in a fake emergency report at a target's address to induce the SWAT team response, which is, you know, can be incredibly dangerous."
The following day, Trump lashed out at two other lawmakers.
In response, Ireland claimed violent threats are coming from “both sides.”
Keilar pushed back, saying, “That is not happening on both sides,” and asked how he was seeing similar threats against his Republican colleagues in Indiana.
However, Ireland called it “ridiculous to frame it that way,” insisting that people supportive of the redistricting effort are also being swatted, and saying that while the political pressure and threats are “totally inappropriate” and illegal, it is wrong to suggest the president bears responsibility.
"It's illegal, and those people belong in jail. But to insinuate that the president of the United States has any sort of responsibility for this, I think, is totally backwards," he added.
Keilar asked if Ireland felt Trump had any responsibility to lower the temperature and mitigate the violence.
"The president, calling out political opponents or advocating for a position, is not the same thing as going in inciting swatting," Ireland claimed. And if that's what you're getting at, I think that's totally the wrong way to look at it."
Keilar told him that it wasn't what she was getting at. She then said that if a president were to target him and he then suffered a swatting attempt, "would you hope that the rhetoric might be tamped down? Is that a reasonable thing to hope for or expect from the leader of the country?"
Ireland maintained the president's rhetoric isn't leading to swatting or violence because "there are nutty people out throughout the world, and maybe these people are in Indiana."
"Regardless of what their motives are, I don't think you can tie somebody's Truth Social post or their tweets to, you know, the bad illegal behavior by another person," Ireland continued.
Indiana Senate resident pro tempore Rodric Bray (R) said that the votes aren't there to support Trump's efforts. Yet, Ireland says that there are 40 Republicans in the 50-member Senate, and he believes 26 lawmakers will approve the measure.
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