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House Republican Receives Threatening Email After Scalise Shooting: 'One Down, 216 to Go'

Rep. Claudia Tenney / Getty
June 14, 2017

Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney (N.Y.) received a threatening email from a constituent that referred to Wednesday's shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R., La.), sporting the subject line "One down, 216 to go."

Capitol Police have been informed about the threat, according to Tenney's spokeswoman Hannah Andrews. The message made references to the party helping "the wealthiest among us," so "your own lives are forfeit."

Scalise and four others were shot Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Va. while Republicans were practicing for a congressional baseball game. The deceased gunman, James T. Hodgkinson, was a former volunteer for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I., Vt.) presidential campaign who frequently posted anti-Republican screeds on social media.

CBS reports:

The lawmaker, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-New York, received an email with the subject line: "One down, 216 to go…," according to a screenshot of the email provided by Tenney's office.

The body of the email read: "Do you NOT expect this? When you take away ordinary peoples very lives in order to pay off the wealthiest among us, your own lives are forfeit. Certainly, your souls and morality were lost long before. Good riddance."

Tenney's spokeswoman, Hannah Andrews, said her office receives similar threats all the time, but Andrews said, "This was particularly disturbing and disheartening given this morning's tragic events." Capitol Police have been informed about the threat, Andrews said.

Tenney is a first-term congresswoman. She told Syracuse.com that she sometime does not feel safe in her home district because of "aggressive" behavior from protesters.

"I always feel safe here at the Capitol,"' Tenney said. "But when I'm back home in the district, not always. People always recognize me. There is a lot of angst, and unfortunately the dialogue and the protesters and the Resist movement has gotten very aggressive."

Sanders addressed the shooting on Wednesday, condemning the gunman and saying he was sickened by the "despicable act."

Published under: Bernie Sanders