A brand new Republican member of Congress from Florida tweeted a shocking joke about the 2022 vicious home invasion beating of 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“Finally, one less gavel in the Pelosi house for Paul to fight with in his underwear,” wrote Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) on Saturday.
The ugly tweet was apparently Mills’ version of a celebration of the ascendency to House speaker of Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Mills was also making fun of the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, who was beaten with a hammer in the middle of the night last October, allegedly by a violent Republican sympathizer out to get a list of Democratic targets.
Suspect David DePape pleaded not guilty last month to six criminal charges in the attack, including attempted murder and elder abuse.
Officials said DePape had planned to kidnap Nancy Pelosi — who was in Washington at the time of the attack — when he broke into the couple’s San Francisco home. Instead, law enforcement authorities said the 42-year-old defendant severely beat the then-speaker’s husband with a hammer in an attack that was witnessed by two police officers. The assault shocked America.
Pelosi was knocked unconscious and woke up in a pool of his own blood. He underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands.
GOP conspiracists at the time spread wild conspiracy theories and tried in vain to baselessly spin the violence as a gay tryst gone wrong.
The message by Mills, who is an Army combat veteran, was retweeted by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who said he wanted the public to “see the indecency that makes up the House GOP.”
“He owes Speaker Pelosi an apology,” Swalwell added.
Mills flippantly responded to Swalwell: “You owe America an apology.”
Mills deleted the original tweet, although his reply to Swalwell remains on his profile.
Mills could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mills was roundly bashed by critics. Twitter users’ responses to Mills appeared to be almost universally, scathingly negative.