(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . House Republicans bar any mention of Trump's felon status on House floor [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-21 If your sole source of information was limited to the reading the day-to-day proceedings of our elected Representatives as they perform their sworn duties within the House chamber, you might never realize that the leader of the Republican party is a convicted felon. Or an adjudged sexual abuser, for that matter. As reported by Luke Broadwater, writing for the New York Times, the current Republican majority responsible for the rules of decorum to be followed by members of the House has forbidden any mention of Donald Trump’s felony status during “official” business. As Broadwater reports: The Republicans who now hold the majority have used those rules to impose what is essentially a gag order against talking about Mr. Trump’s hush-money payments to a porn actress or about the fact that he is a felon at all, notwithstanding that those assertions are no longer merely allegations but the basis of a jury’s guilty verdict. Doing so, they have declared, is a violation of House rules. As Broadwater notes, Republicans have even gone so far as erase one of their Democratic colleague’s, Mass. Rep Jim McGovern’s remarks from the record after he had the audacity to factually describe Trump in the following terms: “We have a presumptive nominee for president facing 88 felony counts, and we’re being prevented from even acknowledging it,” he complained, adding: “He’s also charged with conspiring to overturn the election. He’s also charged with stealing classified information, and a jury has already found him liable for rape in a civil court and, yet, in this Republican-controlled House, it’s OK to talk about the trial — but you have to call it a sham.” Rep. McGovern -- whose remarks preceded Trump’s actual conviction in his “hush money” trial -- is the only House member whose words about Trump have been “taken down,” i.e., stricken from the record. However, as Broadwater notes, other Democrats have received warnings ("admonishments”) for stating the now irrefutable fact that Donald Trump is a convicted felon. Republicans have shown no such penchant for decorum when describing President Biden. As Broadwater observes, during their bogus impeachment inquiry Republican James Comer, who heads the House Oversight Committee, simply dispensed with the rules altogether, declaring that the subject matter of the hearing required that ‘members must be allowed to speak frankly.’ As Broadwater explains, Republicans claim they are relying on an 18th century manual originally developed by Thomas Jefferson when he served as president of the Senate. That rule was adopted by the House in 1837 to govern its own members’ conduct, and states that “personal abuse, innuendo, or ridicule of the president is not permitted.” But there are three problems with applying that rule. First, stating that Trump is a felon — and an adjudged sexual abuser — is not innuendo or ridicule. It is a fact. Nor does stating the truth about someone’s legal status constitute “personal abuse.” Finally, Trump is not the president (although the House parliamentarian responsible for resolving such disputes, after consulting with Republicans, declared that the rule would also apply to those running for the office). It’s also fair to point out -- and Broadwater does so — that this is the same Republican majority whose members routinely breach rules of decorum on the House floor. The verbal insults recently delivered by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene directed to Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett are one of several examples. Republican Rep. Jerry Carl of Alabama, who presided over the House at the time Rep. McGovern’s words were stricken from the record, had attempted to justify that action by characterizing McGovern’s words as an “accusation.” That may have been (barely) arguable at the time, but that is no longer the case. It is now a fact. As Broadwater notes, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland has attempted to creatively bypass the governing Republican majority’s misuse of the rule: During a recent floor speech, he made reference to an “unmentionable American felon, one of 19 million in the country” and an “unrepentant and anonymous convicted felon from New York” without mentioning the former president by name. He referred to Mr. Trump’s hush-money case as “the trial whose very existence must be sent down the Orwellian memory hole to save someone’s hurt feelings.” The man running for president on the Republican ticket is a convicted felon. Period. Any attempt to hide that fact or erase it from the record is now simply deliberate censorship and intentional disinformation directed towards the American people. The fact that it may hurt Republicans’ feelings that their leader is a convicted criminal is just too bad. 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