Rep. Boebert issues defiant statement amid tweet storm calling for her resignation

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Rifle fired back late Monday amid growing pressure from Democrats calling for her to resign or be censured in the aftermath of last week’s U.S. Capitol riots.

Boebert, criticized for her Twitter comments Jan. 6 and following the violent scene led by supporters of President Donald Trump that played out at the Capitol building, was the subject of some 23,000 tweets Monday seeking her resignation.

But a defiant Boebert said in a news statement that she’s not backing down, and said Democrats are being hypocritical.

“We should take Democrats at their word when they say never let a crisis go to waste. Their hypocrisy is on full display with talks of impeachment, censure and other ways to punish Republicans for false accusations of inciting the type of violence they have so frequently and transparently supported in the past,” Boebert said in the statement.

“And, once again, their false attacks go unchallenged,” she said, providing a long list of comments attributed to prominent Democrats and Hollywood celebrities dating back more than a decade that she said also could be construed as inciting violence.

“They accuse me of live-tweeting the Speaker’s presence after she had been safely removed from the Capitol, as if I was revealing some big secret, when it fact this removal was also being broadcast on TV,” said Boebert, who the afternoon the Capitol building was breached and members of Congress were sheltering in place tweeted “The Speaker has been removed from the chambers,” in reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Speaker has been removed from the chambers.

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 6, 2021

That morning, as Congress was set to vote to certify the Electoral College vote declaring Joe Biden’s presidential win, which Boebert formally objected to, she tweeted “Today is 1776.”

Several leading Democrats in Colorado, including from Boebert’s 3rd Congressional District, issued statements Monday calling for Boebert to be held accountable for what they said was her role in fanning the flames among Trump supporters. They used the hashtag #ResignBoebert.

“Boebert seems to believe that it is her job to be a voice for the kind of people that were rioting at the People’s House that day,” Garfield County Democrats wrote in an op-ed scheduled to appear in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.

“(She) should be removed from office before she does any further damage to our democracy,” reads the commentary provided by Garfield County Democratic Party Chairman John Krousouloudis and other local party leaders.

“We can’t afford two more years of her fanning the flames of Q-Anon, Proud Boys, and other white nationalist groups,” they wrote.

Kevin Kuns, chairman of the Montrose County Democratic Party, issued a statement, saying, “Lauren Boebert is embarrassing our district. I did not vote for her, but I had hoped as her constituent that Boebert would prioritize protecting the Constitution and helping the people of our district.

“Instead, (she) has shown zero interest in upholding the Constitution and has put other people’s freedom to vote in her crosshairs by trying to overturn the results of a free and fair election. Whether Boebert’s actions were willful ignorance or purposeful insurrection to overthrow a democracy, I agree with the tens of thousands of people who tweeted #ResignBoebert today,” Kuns said.

Morgan Carroll, chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party, also decried Boebert’s conduct.

“If Lauren Boebert were a true patriot as she claimed to be, she would respect the peaceful transfer of power that is a signature part of our Constitution, end her continued peddling of conspiracy theories, and get to work for her constituents,” Carroll said. “If she will not, she should immediately resign.”

Boebert, in her statement, pointed out that Democrats objected to the Electoral College certification following the election of Republican presidents in 2001, 2005 (George W. Bush) and Trump in 2017.

“They act as though a reference to the founding of our country and the bravery of upholding our Constitutional oath is criminal, which says a whole lot more about them than it does about me or any other Republican,” she said in the statement.

“I denounced the violence over the summer just as I did the recent events at the Capitol,” Boebert said, referring to the Black Lives Matter protests and riots following the death of George Floyd.

jstroud@postindependent.com