NASHVILLE – U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., is joining the ranks of politicians condemning the sending of homemade bombs targeting Hillary Clinton, former president Barack Obama, CNN and others.
“Threats or the desire to cause harm to any individual are antithetical to what we stand for as a nation,” Fleischmann said in a statement today. “The return to civility goes beyond rhetoric and again I reiterate the fact that no individual should feel unsafe as a result of their political beliefs.”
The Ooltewah Republican appeared to reference his own 2017 experience in Alexandria, Va., when a gunman opened fire as Fleischmann and fellow members of the Republican congressional baseball team were practicing.
“As someone who had their life threatened due to political ideology, I am adamant that those who resort to such disgraceful actions have no place in our society,” Fleischmann said.
At that shooting spree, five people, including Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., were wounded with Scalise eventually recovering from life-threatening wounds. Fleischmann himself was not shot.
The shooter, James Hodgkinson, who had exchanged fire with law enforcement, later died from his wounds. His brother later told The New York Times that Hodgkinson was upset by President Donald Trump’s 2016 election. Hodgkinson had gone to Washington, D.C., to join protests against Trump and had evidently been living in a van, according to news accounts.
The pipe bombs targeting prominent Democrats and CNN, which has often been critical of Trump, shared a similar design, The Associated Press reported.
They come in midst of a fierce midterm election where politicians and their allies have amped up the political rhetoric in efforts to get supporters to turn out for key Senate and House contests.