MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Democratic House leaders in Minnesota are calling on several of their Republican colleagues to renounce the violent rhetoric used at the “Storm the Capitol” rally last week in St. Paul, which was held simultaneously with a pro-Trump rally in Washington that ended with an angry mob attacking the U.S. Capitol.
“The violence we witnessed in Washington D.C. has no place in our nation, nor does the rhetoric that encouraged it, incited it, and celebrated it — including at an event at our State Capitol,” said Speaker Melissa Hortman in a statement issued Monday. “The Republican members who attended this event must renounce the violent rhetoric used at the rally they attended and renounce the seditious rhetoric and insurrection that occurred in Washington DC. It is reprehensible that an event these members attended called for civil war and casualties.”
The message from Hortman and other DFL leaders was specifically directed as Republican Reps. Susan Akland, Steve Drazkowski, Mary Franson, Glenn Gruenhagen, Eric Lucero, and Jeremy Munson.
“On the same day a violent mob invaded our nation’s capitol, Republican politicians in Minnesota turned a blind eye to violent rhetoric spoken in front of our State Capitol,” said Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, in a statement. “These Republican members need to be held accountable if they fail to denounce threats made against public servants and our democratic process.”
According to The Star Tribune, about 500 Trump supporters gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol on Wednesday to decry the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory. They spoke of armed revolution and charging those who stood in Trump’s way with treason. When news came that a group of Trump supporters had breached the Capitol in Washington D.C., they reportedly laughed. Still, no violence was reported in St. Paul, where there was a large, visual police presence.
Over the weekend, another rally was held at the Capitol in St. Paul to protest the results of the 2020 election. About 100 people attended, MPR News reports. Some of them were armed.
