Following the arrest of an armed man outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, many people are pointing to 2020 comments from Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as a potential catalyst.
According to CNBC, law-enforcement officers said Wednesday morning that a California man carrying a handgun, knife, pepper spray and burglary tools was arrested about one block away from Kavanaugh’s private residence in Maryland.
After he was apprehended, he said his goal had been to kill Kavanaugh, according to court records.
Following the harrowing report, multiple conservative lawmakers and commentators pointed to previous comments from Schumer as a concern.
In a video from 2020, shared on Twitter by Georgia Congressional candidate Vernon Jones, Schumer expressed outrage at Justices Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch for considering decisions he did not agree with.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh: You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” Schumer said. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
Last night, a deranged man sought to murder Brett Kavanaugh at his family’s home.
Following this CLEAR incitement of violence by @chuckschumer, he should be charged as well.
This not acceptable in any civil society. pic.twitter.com/9htw4RQh9H
— Vernon Jones For Congress (@VernonForGA) June 8, 2022
Many people already criticized Schumer’s comments when he originally made them, but Jones said these comments were particularly relevant given Wednesday’s events.
Should Schumer be investigated for his comments?
“Last night, a deranged man sought to murder Brett Kavanaugh at his family’s home,” Jones wrote in his tweet. “Following this CLEAR incitement of violence by @chuckschumer, he should be charged as well. This not acceptable in any civil society.”
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa agreed with this sentiment and said Wednesday’s threat could clearly be tied back to Schumer’s comments.
“Is anyone surprised that the dangerous rhetoric of this White House, Sen. Schumer and Democrat special interests could incite deadly violence against Supreme Court justices and their families?” Issa wrote in a tweet.
Is anyone surprised that the dangerous rhetoric of this White House, Sen. Schumer and Democrat special interests could incite deadly violence against Supreme Court justices and their families?
— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) June 8, 2022
Outkick founder and conservative commentator Clay Travis said Republicans ought to investigate these comments with the same scrutiny Democrats employed following the Jan. 6, 2020, Capitol incursion.
“Here’s Chuck Schumer encouraging an insurrection against the Supreme Court,” he wrote in his own tweet alongside the video of Schumer. “Republicans may need to start a June 8th committee to investigate when they take back the House and Senate this fall.”
Here’s Chuck Schumer encouraging an insurrection against the Supreme Court. Republicans may need to start a June 8th committee to investigate when they take back the House and Senate this fall. pic.twitter.com/CC6jzQVrCC
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 8, 2022
Other conservatives, including The Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway and criminal defense attorney Jonathan Turley, agreed Schumer’s comments were deeply concerning.
And this is why Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer explicitly and directly threatening Kavanaugh and Gorsuch from the steps of the Supreme Court in 2020 was so dangerous. https://t.co/jK4LnsgV3s
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) June 8, 2022
While clearly unintended, some can take the wrong meaning from words like those from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the steps of the Supreme Court that expressly referred to Justice Kavanaugh…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) June 8, 2022
Following Wednesday’s arrest, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued an explicit condemnation of threats and violence against Supreme Court Justices, CNBC reported.
“Threats of violence and actual violence against the justices of course strike at the heart of our democracy, and we will do everything we can to prevent them and hold the people who do them accountable for that reason,” Garland said.
