Representative Steve Cohen is worried that Donald Trump supporters within the National Guard who have been assigned to protect President-elect Joe Biden “might want to do something” violent.
To prepare for the upcoming inauguration this week a security force of 25,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to Washington, D.C., to protect Biden and the incoming administration. The city is still on edge after a mob of pro-Trump supporters attacked the Capitol earlier this month during the certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Cohen pointed out how former India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own bodyguards and accused any Trump supporters within the National Guard of being suspicious.
.@RepCohen on his concerns w/ the National Guard securing the Inauguration: “The [National] Guard is 90 some-odd percent male; and only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden … there are probably not more than 25% of the people there protecting us that voted for Biden” pic.twitter.com/ofQfLuCw8I
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 18, 2021
“The [National] Guard is 90 some-odd percent male, and only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden,” said Cohen. “You’ve got to figure that in the Guard, which is predominantly more conservative … they’re probably not more than 25 percent of the people there protecting us that voted for Biden. The other 75 percent are in the large class of folks that might want to do something.”
CNN’s Jim Sciutto disagreed with Cohen saying being a Trump supporter was “far different from being a threat of violence.” The Tennessee Rep. was asked to elaborate on his claims of danger surrounding the Biden inauguration to which Cohen replied he had none but said “you draw a circle first” around Trump supporters in the Guard who should be “suspect of.”
Glenn Kessler, fact-checker for the Washington Post, criticized Cohen for categorizing any Trump supporter as a possible “seditionist.”
Hmmm, does a Democratic congressman really want to suggest that if you voted for Trump you might be a seditionist? What happened to the idea that military people are professionals and do their jobs regardless of political preferences? https://t.co/EGTfALYBYV
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) January 18, 2021
Cohen also overestimated the amount of white male support for President Trump. According to one exit poll, Biden got about 38% of white male voters in November’s election. Meanwhile, Trump’s support from white voters decreased from his 2016 win over Hillary Clinton and helped secure the victory for Biden.
