Representative Steve Cohen (D., Tenn.) made two outlandish and so far unsupported accusations during an interview with CNN.
Representative Steve Cohen (D., Tenn.) made two outlandish and so far unsupported accusations during an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto this morning. Begin with Cohen’s broadest accusation, presumably spurred by an Associated Press report that the FBI was vetting the 25,000 National Guard troops assigned to protect Capitol Hill and downtown Washington during the inauguration:
SCIUTTO: Okay, all right. There were many former — both member — actually current and former members of the U.S. military and law enforcement who took part in the riot and we now have the remarkable step in this country of the U.S. military running background checks on its own people like it might do in a foreign country with partner forces to see if there are any sympathizers. Based on what you’ve seen, what is your level of concern of an insider threat?
COHEN: Well, it certainly raises. I was reading about this on my Twitter account, I guess, and people were reminding people of Anwar Sadat and Indira Gandhi who were killed by their own people. I was thinking, the guard is 90 some odd percent, I believe, male. Only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden. You have got to figure that the guard, which is predominantly more conservative and I see that on my social media, and we know it, they are probably 25 percent of the people that are there protecting us who voted for Biden.
The other 75 percent are in the class that would be the large class of folks who might want to do something. And there were military people and police who took oath to defend the Constitution and to protect and defend who didn’t do it who were in the insurrection. So it does concern me. But the vetting at the last minute —
SCIUTTO: That is far — to have voted for Trump does not make you an insider. I mean, that is far different from being a threat of violence inside, whether the National Guard or law enforcement. I’m curious, is there anything you’ve seen to substantiate just how broad this insider threat may be, if it exists?
COHEN: Actually not, Jim. But you draw a circle of people who work for Trump and not for Biden as far as people who would be within the zone of folks who you would be suspect of. The suspect group is large.
You know you’ve gone too far when Jim Sciutto feels the need to rebut you putting everyone on a suspect list because of their race and gender. (And on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no less!) Good for Sciutto for asking for specific evidence, and Cohen should be embarrassed when he is forced to admit that he hasn’t seen anything to substantiate his accusation.
Also, Cohen’s statistics are off. According to 2020 exit polls, 38 percent of white males voted for Biden. As of 2018, the Army National Guard is 17.4 percent female, and the Air National Guard is 20.8 percent female — not the “90-some odd percent male” as he asserts.
Cohen’s other highly charged and evidence-free accusation involves Colorado GOP Representative Lauren Boebert — already infamous for calling QAnon “a movement that is only motivating and encouraging and bringing people together, stronger,” for tweeting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had left the House chamber during the siege, and for refusing to let Capitol Police search her bag after it set off a metal detector. Cohen contends that Boebert was working with those who rioted on Capitol Hill on January 6, because he saw her giving a tour of the Capitol on one of the days before the riot.
SCIUTTO: That is remarkable, remarkable to hear. I want to ask you about something specific, because several of your colleagues have alleged that the riots may have received inside help, including raising the prospect of tours conducted or with the okay of fellow sitting members of Congress. This is quite a charge to make. Have you seen any hard evidence to substantiate that allegation?
COHEN: The only thing that I’ve seen, Congressman Yarmuth refreshed my recollection yesterday. We saw Congresswoman Boebert taking people for a tour sometime after the 3rd and before the 6th.
I remember the day we were walking in a tunnel and we saw her (INAUDIBLE) and she had a large group with her.
Now, whether they were people that were involved in the insurrection or not, I do not know. (INAUDIBLE) have a large number of people coming to be with her on this historic occasion and just wanting to give them the opportunity to have a tour. But it is pretty clear that her team is the team — she’s not on the home team. She was with the visitors.
SCIUTTO: But do you know that any people who were in that tour led by Boebert later attended the riot? That is the question I have.
COHEN: I do not.
The burgeoning opposition to Boebert doesn’t abrogate the need to see evidence for accusations as serious as this. If Cohen is going to accuse her of conspiring with the rioters, he had better have more compelling evidence than, “I saw her giving a tour.”