House censures GOP Rep. Paul Gosar over AOC video

The House on Wednesday voted to censure GOP Rep. Paul Gosar and strip him of his committee assignments for posting an anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and swinging swords at President Joe Biden.

The resolution passed in a 223-207-1 vote. Only two Republicans joined every Democrat in voting for the measure.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ahead of the vote that Gosar’s “actions demand a response.” 

“Death threats against a member of Congress and a president of the United States in an animated video does not make those death threats any less real or less serious,” Pelosi said on the House floor. 

“This is an insult to the institution of the House of Representatives,” she continued. “It is not just about us as members of Congress, it is a danger that represents to everyone in the country.”

Gosar is just the 24th House member censured in the chamber’s history, and the first in more than a decade. 

Censure is the second harshest formal punishment in the House short of expulsion. It requires a simple majority in a floor vote to pass.

House lawmakers also voted to remove Gosar from his assignments on the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee. Ocasio-Cortez also serves on the Oversight and Reform Committee.

House rules required Gosar, an Arizona Republican, to stand on the House floor while Pelosi read the rebuke aloud. Ocasio-Cortez sat with colleagues on the Democratic side of the chamber while the speaker read that Gosar was censured and removed from his committee assignements.

Earlier this year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was removed from her committee assignments for spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories.

Gosar shared the edited video on his official social media channels last week. 

It featured a scene from Japanese anime series “Attack on Titan,” with Gosar’s face superimposed on a character bearing two swords and attacking giant characters with Ocasio-Cortez and Biden’s faces. The video also included images of Border Patrol officers with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The video, which was shared to Instagram and Twitter, has since been deleted.