‘A New Low’: Gerry Connolly Says Republicans Who Voted Against Gold Medals For Capitol Police Are ‘Part Of The Insurrectionist Mob’

Democratic Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly lashed out Tuesday at Republicans who opposed giving gold medals to Capitol Police officers who served during the Jan. 6 riot.

Connolly told CNN’s Erin Burnett that in his opinion, saying, “They now are part of the insurrectionist mob.”

“What is your position to the 21 Republicans who voted against giving these officers the gold medal?” Burnett asked Connolly.

“I think this is a new low for this crowd. They voted to overturn an election. In the vote today they kind of sealed the deal of basically affiliating with the mob,” Connolly replied.

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“They now are part of the insurrectionist mob. They brought enormous disrepute and dishonor on themselves in not honoring the brave men and women who defended the Capitol of the United States, everybody in it, but also defending the symbol of democracy in the world, not just here in the United States. Shameful moment,” said Connolly. (RELATED: Democratic Congressman Accuses White House Of Using An Intern To ‘Deliberately’ Set Up CNN’s Jim Acosta)

Burnett pointed out that some Republicans had taken issue with the use of the term “insurrection” — and that FBI Director Christopher Wray had also shied away from using the term during his testimony on the Capitol riot.

“What’s your reaction to what he said?” Burnett turned back to Connolly.

Connolly acknowledged that Wray was holding to a strict legal definition of the word, adding, “I think for most of us in the media, the public and certainly here in Congress, it was what it was, an insurrection, an armed insurrection, preplanned by a lot of the participants. So you can quibble over words, and in quibbling over the words you’re contributing to the denial of what, in fact, happened. And I don’t want to be an enabler with respect to that. It was an insurrection. Everybody could see it on television. Those of us who were here experienced it as such. And I think we need to call it what it is.”