Republican Confronted Over Shooting Video Tweet With 'Fire Pelosi' Hashtag

Representative Tom Emmer was confronted on Sunday over a video of him firing a gun that he posted on Twitter with the hashtag "fire [Nancy] Pelosi," a couple days before the House Speaker's husband was violently attacked inside the couple's San Francisco home.

Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, said in the Wednesday tweet that he was firing shots with Republican Representative Jack Bergman of Michigan and Kelly Cooper, who is the GOP candidate in Arizona for the U.S. House, in this year's midterm election.

"Enjoyed exercising my Second Amendment rights with @KellyCooperAZ & General @JackBergman_MI1. 13 days to make history. Let's #FirePelosi," the Republican tweeted.

The GOP lawmaker is running for another term in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District against Democratic candidate Jeanne Hendricks.

CBS News' Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan asked Emmer on Sunday "why is there a gun in a political ad at all?"

"It wasn't an ad. I was tweeting out something I had just done," Emmer responded, referring to the shooting activity he had with his fellow Republicans.

"Why a gun?" Brennan asked the Republican incumbent. However, Emmer deflected and mentioned the incident in which a supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, shot Representative Steve Scalise.

Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was injured in a mass shooting while practicing for an annual congressional baseball game in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2017. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries along with some congressional aides and two police officers.

"I never heard you or anyone else in the media trying to blame Democrats for what happened. We need to stay focused on what we're all doing," he said, however Brennan pushed back, saying that the incident was extensively covered by CBS News.

Still, Emmer insisted that "nobody tried to equate Democrats' rhetoric."

When Brennan tried to ask Emmer again about the hashtag, he avoided providing an explanation and said that he was practicing his Second Amendment right by posting a video of himself shooting a gun.

"Do you not understand that that is suggestive to people who are in a bad state. And in this current environment, how risky it is as you're talking about these issues of lowering the rhetoric?" Brennan asked before she told Emmer about how Republican candidates focused on mentioning Pelosi in their campaign ads. Emmer then went on to blame Democrats for high inflation and crime rates.

On Friday, the San Francisco Police Department announced that it had arrested 42-year-old David DePape in connection with the violent assault against Paul Pelosi. The man, who broke into the couple's home, reportedly yelled "Where is Nancy?" before attacking the Speaker's husband with a hammer. Pelosi was taken to a nearby hospital where he is currently recovering from surgery to repair a skull fracture.

When asked about whether he denounces "any kind of attack" on the Pelosi family, Emmer said "absolutely."

"There should be no attacks, period. There should be no violence in our society. Again, whether it's political or otherwise, there's no place for it in a civilized society," he added.

Meanwhile, several Republicans have used the attack to blame Democrats over the way they are handling rising crime in the country.

Kari Lake, Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, told Fox News' Laura Ingraham on Friday that people are "realizing that it's the policies of the left that have made our streets more dangerous" during a conversation about the attack on Paul Pelosi.

"They're realizing that the crimes, whether they be a small crime where your car's broken into to a violent attack, it's because of leftist elected officials who have not enforced the laws," Lake said.

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed President Joe Biden for the levels of crime in the U.S.

"Violence and crime are rampant in Joe Biden's America. It shouldn't happen to Paul Pelosi. It shouldn't happen to innocent Americans. It shouldn't happen to me. (Swatted six times, violence & death threats every day)," Greene tweeted.

Newsweek reached out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office for comment.