Geoff Diehl on why he's challenging Warren in 2018
On 'Fox & Friends,' Massachusetts State representative talks about his social media campaign to track down the 2020 hopeful
Just hours after a Massachusetts man was arrested for allegedly offering $500 bounties for killing ICE agents, a Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in the state said his Democratic opponent shared in the blame.
GOP candidate Geoff Diehl demanded Thursday that incumbent U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren “both retract and apologize” for the criticism that he said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel have taken from her and other Democrats in recent months, the Boston Herald reported.
“We now have a man putting a bounty on the heads of ICE agents,” Diehl said in a statement. “Senator Warren’s irresponsible statements are partially to blame. She has a responsibility to support our law enforcement officials. Her call to abolish ICE and painting the entire criminal justice system racists are reckless and dangerous.”
"Senator Warren ... has a responsibility to support our law enforcement officials. Her call to abolish ICE and painting the entire criminal justice system racists are reckless and dangerous.”
The suspect, identified as Brandon Ziobrowski, 33, of Cambridge, Mass., was arrested Thursday in New York, charged with one count of use of interstate and foreign commerce to transmit a threat and injure another person.
On July 2, Ziobrowski allegedly tweeted: “I am broke but will scrounge and literally give $500 to anyone who kills ICE agent. @me seriously who else can pledge get in on this lets make this work.”
Federal officials also said Ziabrowski had tweeted a desire to slit the throat of U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
“He appears to be very much against ICE and its mission. He appears to have a violent dislike for at least one Republican senator and law enforcement," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said at a news conference announcing Ziabrowski’s arrest.
Diehl, meanwhile, suggested that Warren, too, seemed opposed to ICE and its mission.
“We need a Senator who will support our police and not throw (ICE) under the bus to score political points,” Diehl’s statement continued. “Warren should be putting public safety first. Instead she is prioritizing her White House political ambitions to the detriment of law enforcement.”
Speaking at a rally in Boston on June 30, Warren slammed President Trump’s immigration policies, saying “we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom, starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our morality and that works.”
Other top Democrats who’ve called for ICE to be abolished include U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont and congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
DEMOCRATS CALLING FOR ICE TO BE ABOLISHED INCLUDE KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, ELIZABETH WARREN, OTHERS
But in a response to Diehl’s comments, Warren’s office told the Herald that the senator opposes any form of violence against law enforcement officers.
“We can have respectful discussions and civil discourse on policy while working together to improve lives,” the senator’s office said in a statement.
Diehl, 49, currently serves in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, representing the 7th Plymouth District.
Warren, 69, has served in the U.S. Senate since 2013.
Fox News’ Travis Fedschun and Kaitlyn Schallhorn contributed to this story.
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