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‘Lauren Boebert is a fool’: Lawmakers point fingers at ‘QAnon Congresswoman’ after she tweeted Pelosi’s location during Capitol riots

The ‘QAnon Congresswoman’ is facing calls for her to resign

Graig Graziosi
Tuesday 12 January 2021 19:19 GMT
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Donald Trump refuses to take responsibility for Capitol riot
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A Congressman said Rep. Lauren Boebert defied orders from the Capitol Police during the lockdown at the building by tweeting out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been moved from the chambers.  

Protesters called on Ms Boebert to resign for alerting the rioters - who she admitted included some of her constituents - to details about Ms Pelosi's whereabouts.  

Some rioters called out they were "coming for" Ms Pelosi during the assault on the Capitol.  

Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii tweeted Monday that the lawmakers had been explicitly told by Capitol police during the lockdown that they should not tell anyone where they were, including family.  

"We were specifically instructed by those protecting us not to tell anyone, including our family, where exactly we were, for reasons that remain obvious," Mr Schatz wrote.  

Ms Boebert, being a member of the House, would not have been housed with Mr Schatz during the lockdown. However, Rep. Eric Swalwell was housed with her, and claimed they were given a similar order.  

"So were we in the House. @laurenboebert was told by the Sergeant of Arms in the chamber to not make any social media posts. It was said repeatedly. She defied it because she is more closely aligned with the terrorists than the patriots," Mr Swalwell wrote.

Mr Schatz urged caution in making accusations, but agreed that investigations into which congressional members were coordinating or otherwise aiding the rioters should be carried out.  

"It’s not clear to what extent the rioters were coordinating operationally with government officials, so we ought to be extremely careful in this line of inquiry," he wrote. "But we must discover which elected and appointed officials, if any, and which civil servants, were helping the coup."

Ms Boebert released a statement saying she denounced the violence at the US Capitol as well as violence the occurred during racial justice protests over the summer. She then attempted to defend herself by pointing out that CSPAN had reported on Ms Pelosi being removed from the chamber before she posted her tweet.

In the early morning on the day of the insurrection, Ms Boebert tweeted that "Today is 1776" - a clear reference to the American Revolution. 

In an interview after the insurrection, Ms Boebert likened her support of Mr Trump’s false claims of election fraud in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election to the American Founding Fathers signing the Declaration of Independence. 

The Independent reached out to Ms Boebert for comment, but she was not immediately available.

Republicans have even called for Ms Boebert to be held accountable for the insurrection at the Capitol.  

Colorado House Speaker, Russ George, a Republican, was interviewed by The Daily Sentinel, a Colorado newspaper in a conservative district.  

“I’m inclined to hold everybody who had any role in (Wednesday’s events) accountable and responsible, and that includes Boebert. It’s unforgivable …” he said from Ms Boebert's hometown of Rifle.  

Ms Boebert - who owns a gun themed restaurant called "Shooters" - is known for saying she would carry a gun to Congress and for her associations with the QAnon conspiracy movement, which alleges there is a global demonic pedophile ring that controls the US government and that only Donald Trump is fighting against it alongside a "white hat" deep state operative called "Q." The theory also alleges child cannibalism, the use of clones, and adherents look forward to an apocalyptic event called "The Storm" that they believe will include the mass trials and executions of Democratic lawmakers.  

When asked what she thought about it, she said she was not a follower of the movement but that she hoped "it was true" that people were investigating the deep state allegations made by the conspiracy theory.  

The Daily Sentinel also interviewed Democratic lawmaker Jason Crow, who was also critical of Ms Boebert.  

“Lauren Boebert is a fool,” he said. “She has no place in the Capitol.”

Ms Boebert also blocked a columnist at Colorado Newsline on Twitter who wrote a scathing column about her following the events of the insurrection.  

The columnist, Trish Zornio, claimed Ms Boebert was defying the First Amendment by blocking a journalist from accessing information she was putting out into the public.  

"It would seem that regardless of political stripes, one thing is for certain: In less than one week on the job, Boebert has managed to likely subvert both the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution," Ms Zornio wrote. "It’s an infamous legacy, and one that has more than earned her resignation or expulsion."

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