Democrat denounces political intimidation and violence after home vandalized with call for ceasefire in Israel, Gaza

Date:

Office of Rep. Adam Smith

The garage door of the home of Representative Adam Smith (D) of Washington was vandalized on Thursday, November 30.



CNN
Ā ā€”Ā 

Democratic Rep. Adam Smith on Friday condemned intimidation and violence pushed by political ā€œextremesā€ after he said his Washington state home was vandalized by activists pushing for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

ā€œSadly, the extremes onĀ the left and the right haveĀ increasingly seen intimidation,Ā and in some cases violence, as aĀ legitimate way to advance theirĀ viewpoints,ā€ Smith told CNNā€™s Abby Phillip on ā€œNewsNight.ā€

Smith said that his wife found the graffiti at their Bellevue, Washington, home and that they reported the incident to local and Capitol police. He described the incident, and similar examples of intimidation, as ā€œvery troubling.ā€

The incident comes as members of Congress and the Biden administration have faced increased pressure to publicly call for a ceasefire in the conflict, with President Joe Biden having faced sharp criticism from inside his party over his refusal to do so. The administration has supported ā€œhumanitarian pausesā€ and pushed to extend the recent truce in the fighting. Smith said he also supports humanitarian pauses in the conflict.

Public information officer Seth Tyler with the Bellevue Police Department told CNN earlier Friday that the garage door of Smithā€™s home had been spray painted overnight, but declined to relay what had been written.

Smith told Phillip that to his ā€œknowledgeā€ as of Friday evening, authorities do not have any leads on who was responsible.

The congressman pointed to the incident as part of a ā€œvery problematicā€ trend of threats against elected officials.

ā€œWe need to have respect forĀ civil society and representativeĀ democracy and know how toĀ disagree with each other withoutĀ going to this level ofĀ intimidation,ā€ Smith said.

Asked by Phillip whether he agrees with some protestersā€™ sentiments that there is a greater focus on their tactics than the issues theyā€™re protesting, Smith said that ā€œtheyā€™re 1,000% wrong.ā€

ā€œI think the tactics are very damaging,ā€ he said, adding that they are ā€œthe same tactics we saw in the most extreme formā€ during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

SmithĀ said inĀ a press releaseĀ earlier Friday that over his career he has ā€œcontinually met with groups from all parts of the political spectrum, including Pro-Palestinian and left-wing activists.ā€

ā€œI remain open to meeting with these groups and discussing our differences and where we can come together in a productive and peaceful way,ā€ he continued in the statement.

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