Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that he’s outraged by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, for repeatedly refusing to condemn the ongoing riots in Los Angeles.
President Donald Trump last week deployed the National Guard to the politically deep-blue city after thousands of people began rioting in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the city.
The president then publicly called for the arrest of California Gov. Gavin Newsom after he launched a lawsuit to reverse Trump’s decision to send in ICE.
While Barrasso and other Republicans have been quick to condemn the chaos, the chamber’s second-ranking member took to the Senate floor Wednesday to call out Schumer’s description of the riots as a “peaceful” protest.
“When Americans turn on their TV sets, what they’re seeing happening on the streets of Los Angeles, I believe the American people feel sickened, horrified and outraged,” he said. “And yet we stood here and saw the minority leader of the United States Senate come to this floor this morning and he said that these were ‘overwhelmingly peaceful.’”
Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment about Barrasso’s rebuke.
Barrasso told Cowboy State Daily via email that’s not surprising from the New York Democrat.
“Senator Schumer’s silence is no surprise,” he wrote. “Every one of the Democrats still supports open borders. They tried that for four years. It was a disaster. Every state became a border state.
“Democrats have learned nothing. They continue to be the party of crime and criminals.”
‘These Are Riots’
That Democrats are trying to soft-sell what’s happening in the streets of Los Angeles as anything close to peaceful or that those rioting are victims is ridiculous, he said.
“These are riots,” Barrasso said. “They threaten public safety, and my Democrat colleagues call them peaceful. They are wrong.
“These are attacks upon the law enforcement community of our nation. Republicans will not stand by as the violence rages in our country’s second largest city.”
His comments come as other members of Wyoming’s delegation continue to apply pressure on Schumer.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis last week told Cowboy State Daily that Schumer also did not go far enough in his response to the antisemitic Molotov cocktail attack in Boulder, Colorado.
“Chuck Schumer should be speaking out and all Jewish leaders, elected leaders should be speaking out,” she said. “It's so incomprehensible that this is happening in the United States, that we've been way too slow to act.”
