Hillary Clinton condemned members of the Republican Party – particularly Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake – for making light of last week’s violent assault against Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
During an appearance on “CNN This Morning,” the former Secretary of State shared her reaction to the “horrifying incident” and the GOP’s response to it.
“It was a horrifying incident, but sadly a real indicator of where we are in our country right now, that you would have people on the Republican ticket, like the woman running in Arizona, laughing about an attack on anyone, let alone an 82-year-old man whose wife happens to be the second in line to the presidency,” she said, “the woman running in Arizona” a reference to Lake.
At a Monday campaign rally, Lake joked that “apparently [Nancy Pelosi’s] house doesn’t have a lot of protection,” drawing laughter from the crowd. Donald Trump Jr. posted memes about the incident on his social media accounts, while Senator Ted Cruz and conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza were among those who peddled conspiracy theories surrounding the attack.
“I am rarely shocked anymore, but the reaction I’ve seen from a number of Republicans, both in person and online making fun of that attack, somehow trying to turn it into a joke? The same party that wants us to be worried about crime?” Clinton continued. “The hypocrisy is incredibly obvious.”
Clinton argued that voters should take this response into account when they head to the polls this Election Day.
“I want voters to think hard about why would you give authority to people who laugh at what happened to Paul Pelosi? We can have our differences over all kinds of policies, but when you really get to the human level, my goodness!” she said. “What kind of person is that, and why would we entrust any power to such a person?”
Watch a clip from the interview above.
