Rep. Eric Swalwell Deletes, Apologizes for ‘Boo Hoo’ Tweet Mocking Sen. Susan Collins Over Threats

 

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) faced backlash on Wednesday after tweeting a mocking response to a story about threats being made against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and staff at her office in D.C. over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh and the allegation of sexual assault against him.

Swalwell was quote tweeting an article from The Hill detailing threats that were being made toward Collins and staff.

“My office has received some pretty ugly voicemails, threats, terrible things said to my staff,” Collins said in an interview with WVOM on Wednesday.
[…]
“We’ve had some very abusive callers. … We’ve had some very vulgar calls and sort of harassing the staff,” Steve Abbot, Collins’s chief of staff, told a Maine TV station at the time.

In response, Swalwell tweeted “Boo hoo hoo” to the female senator. He received a lot of backlash on Twitter (along with approval and retweets), and on Thursday morning even engaged some of the criticism. Here is his reply to CNN’s Jake Tapper.

He first says he did not mean to suggest not taking threats seriously or being dismissive of violence. Then he asked “Why not offer the witness security?”

Tapper replied and pointed out that Sen. Susan Collins had herself suggested the same thing.

He deleted the mocking tweet and, about ten minutes after the exchange with Tapper, offered his apology via Twitter.

Currently there is no response from Susan Collins.

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Caleb Howe is an editor and writer focusing on politics and media. Former managing editor at RedState. Published at USA Today, Blaze, National Review, Daily Wire, American Spectator, AOL News, Asylum, fortune cookies, manifestos, napkins, fridge drawings...