Gosar Becomes 24th House Member in History to Be Censured

Update: The House of Representatives voted 223-207 Wednesday to censure Republican Rep. Paul Gosar for sharing an animated video that showed him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword. Gosar—the 24th House member to be censured in the chamber's history, and the first since 2010—stood in the center of the House floor as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi read the resolution aloud, the Hill reports. He will also be stripped of his committee assignments. Two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, voted with Democrats to censure the Arizona lawmaker. "This is not about me. This is not about Rep. Gosar," Ocasio-Cortez said in a speech before the vote. "But this is about what we are willing to accept." Our original story from Nov. 16 follows:

The Republican congressman who posted an animated video showing him killing Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be rebuked over the controversy. The House of Representatives will vote Wednesday on a resolution to censure Rep. Paul Gosar, the AP reports. Some Republicans are expected to vote in favor, including Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, Politico reports. But Republicans in general are not happy with the move, warning Democrats that the party with the majority dictating the punishment of a member in the minority party sets a "dark and dangerous" precedent for the chamber, as Rep. Tom Cole put it. The House has censured 23 members in its history, last in 2010.

If approved, a censure resolution requires the lawmaker who is being censured to stand in the well of the House as the speaker reads the resolution out loud. This particular resolution would also pull Gosar from his committees, the House Oversight Committee (which AOC also sits on) and the House Natural Resources Committee. AOC has said she supports the move, though she believes any lawmaker who threatens a colleague should face expulsion.

story continues below

The video also depicted Gosar attacking President Biden with a sword. "That is an insult ... to the institution of the House of Representatives," Pelosi said Tuesday, per CNN. "We cannot have members joking about murdering each other, as well as threatening the President of the United States." Republican leadership in the House has yet to truly condemn Gosar's actions, and Gosar, though he deleted the video, has not apologized. (More on the video here.)