Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren called out Republican officials during a Thursday night appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” for letting President Trump attack their Democratic colleagues without generating meaningful opposition from his own political party.
On Thursday, Trump called for six Democratic lawmakers, Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, as well as Reps. Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Maggie Goodlander and Chris Deluzio, to be arrested and tried for participating in a Tuesday video urging members of the U.S. military and intelligence community not to follow illegal orders. All of the Democratic officials featured in the video are military or national security veterans.
Trump accused them on Truth Social of engaging in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” ” and wrote that “traitors” should be “arrested and tried.” Their words cannot stand.” He then reposted a number of posts from other Truth Social users, including one that called on Trump to hang Democrats like “GEORGE WASHINGTON DOES.”
“Trump is wrong,” Warren told Colbert of the president’s threats. “Here’s the thing: We have to support them. Donald Trump thinks he can intimidate them and, I have to say, I think he picked the wrong group of people to try to intimidate them. But it’s extremely important that we fight back.”
Warren said the responsibility to publicly denounce Trump’s actions falls not only on Democratic elected officials, but also on Republicans. “Now is the time to appeal to these Republicans, who have been surgically altered and no longer have a backbone,” Warren argued. “When Donald Trump encourages such violence, when he threatens such violence, when he attacks members of Congress with death threats, it is time for all members of Congress to stand up and say, ‘No, enough is enough. We are not doing this and will not stand for it anymore.'”
Elsewhere, Warren discussed the end of the recent government shutdown and told the story of a woman she met in Florida who suffers from malignant melanoma. “She has four kids. She has a job. Her husband has a job, and they looked at their insurance and said, ‘The new price, we literally can’t afford it,'” Warren detailed. “What she’s doing is planning to give up everything [her] treatments after January 1st.
“The United States of America is the richest country in the history of the world,” Warren concluded, calling on Republicans to keep their health care promises. “It’s time for us to put into practice the declaration that health care is a fundamental human right. We need health care for everyone.”
