House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi demanded Tuesday that Republicans kick Rep. Steve King out of his post as chairman of a subcommittee with jurisdiction over the U.S. Constitution, saying the congressman needs to be punished for his controversial comments about culture this week.
“Steve King’s racist statements must be called out as unacceptable, and the tepid, brush-off response from the speaker and the GOP leadership is disgraceful,” she said.
She speculated that President Trump and his top political strategist, Steven Bannon — whom she called “a white supremacist” — have set too low a bar in Washington.
Mr. King over the weekend tweeted that the U.S. “can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said he disagreed with that sentiment, and the White House also said Mr. Trump disagrees with it.
Mr. King, meanwhile, told The Washington Times on Monday that he wasn’t speaking about race, but rather culture and immigration, saying the U.S. doesn’t do a good enough job assimilating those it takes in.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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