Last night, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) was on Jonathan Capehart’s Sunday Show, along with Rep. Ro Khanna of California. According to Rep. Connolly, Democrats should NOT help Republicans save “far-right” Speaker Mike Johnson’s job; that Republicans aren’t just falling for Russian propaganda, they’re actually prime witnesses for now a thoroughly discredited impeachment; that “We should not be providing more offensive weaponry that could be used in Gaza until and unless the conditions the president set down with Netanyahu are met”; and that a federal penitentiary near Mar-a-Lago should be named after Donald J. Trump.
“No, I don’t believe rewarding Speaker Johnson for doing his job is a smart policy. And there are lots of problems I think doing that. He is the most ideological right-wing Speaker since the 1830s. Everything he stands for is antithetical to Democratic values. And keeping him in office is being complicit when we do that. Secondly, this is extortion, where do we stop? This time it’s Ukraine, what is it next? And thirdly, his viability – what kind of shelf life is Mike Johnson going to have in his own caucus when he’s the speaker at the sufferance of Democratic votes – that’s not going to be a long shelf life…Well, hopefully Hakeem Jeffries [will be the next Speaker]…The Republicans are down to a one-vote majority, it’s very fragile. But it’s not our job to save a Republican Speaker, especially one as far right as Mike Johnson. He’s wrong from a Democratic point of view on every issue imaginable – gun rights, women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, he not only voted the wrong way on certifying President Biden’s election, he litigated it. What Democrat wants to be associated with that kind of record?… I think that we we will get to a vote on both Ukraine aid and on rebuilding the Key Bridge in Baltimore. There are over 300 votes in the House of Representatives bipartisan to vote for Ukraine aid. Speaker Johnson knows that. And there is going to be increasing pressure on him from moderate, common sense Republicans who support aid to Ukraine. Key leaders in the Republican caucus – the chairman of the intelligence committee, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee all are outspoken advocates for Ukraine. He can’t continue to bottle that up. Let the will of the House be exercised – bring a bill to the floor and we either pass it or we don’t.” [NOTE: Rep. Connolly’s position differs from that of Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who the other day said she WOULD vote to table a motion to vacate the Speaker’s position, in order to get Ukraine aid, etc.]
“I favor the position…[US Senator] Chris Van Hollen just articulated, which is we have to use our leverage on the Netanyahu government to open up massive humanitarian aid in Gaza. We should not be providing more offensive weaponry that could be used in Gaza until and unless the conditions the president set down with Netanyahu are met; they have not been met yet.”
“I’m on the Oversight Committee and I watch Jim Jordan on Judiciary and Jim Comer on Oversight who are collaborating on an impeachment effort against President Biden. Who is their primary witness? Ttheir primary witness is a Russian named Alexander Smirnoff. He is in jail today because he lied to the FBI about the whole Burisma ‘scandal’ that turned out to be a lie. He wasn’t there. He didn’t hear it. There were no bribes. That’s their primary witness. And he admitted that his sources are Russian agents. So it’s not only that Russian bots are infiltrating Republican propaganda, they’re actually prime witnesses for now a thoroughly discredited impeachment.”
“There’s a nice federal penitentiary right near Mar a Lago, and I just thought for a guy who’s now got 88 criminal indictments pending – criminal – plus two major civil penalty trials that have already been resolved, costing him about half a billion dollars, I think it’s only fitting that if Republicans really want to honor Donald Trump, the most appropriate way to do that is to name a federal prison he might be visiting soon after Donald J Trump.”
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
