Detroit lawmaker stripped of committees, faces disciplinary from Michigan House after video threat
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - Two days after sharing a racist voicemail where she was threatened to be lynched, Detroit Democrat Rep. Cynthia Johnson has been stripped of her committees and faces further action in the Michigan House of Representatives after posting a video where she pushed back against claims of election fraud and appeared to threaten supporters of President Donald Trump.
Johnson went live on Facebook Tuesday night after she said a woman from Illinois was identified by law enforcement as the person who left the threatening voicemail. The 62-year-old first-term state representative thanked supporters following last week's hearing with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.
"There's a good way to do it, and a f***ed up way to do it," she said. "You don't have to curse anybody out, you don't have to call people names. Hit their a**es in the pocketbook."
After discussing the unnamed Illinois woman, she then made a statement that is getting the bulk of the attention.
"So this is just a warning to you Trumpers: be careful, walk lightly. We ain't playing with you. enough of the shenanigans. Enough. It's enough - and for those of you who are soldiers, you know how to do it. Do it right. be in order, make them pay. "
Whether Johnson is referring to physically making them pay through violence or making them pay financially, as she alluded to earlier with her reference of hitting them "in the pocketbook", is unclear.
Former Democratic State Senator Coleman Young said, regardless, that her tone crossed a line but the response to it is unnecessary.
"You cannot use language like that. Period. That is not OK. However, I think it is draconian to make a public example out of her," he said.
Former Republican House Majority Leader Rocky Raczkowski said her tone and language is hypocritical after what happened to her earlier this week.
"For her to call the police to show those voicemails of threats and then turn around and they do exactly the same thing that she found hurtful against people that voted for President Trump, or supported President Trump, is uncalled for," he said.
Johnson, who was part of the House Oversight Committee which is overseeing the election claims of fraud, was stripped of her duties on Wednesday.
Michigan Democratic leadership issued a statement chastising House Speaker Lee Chatfield and Speaker-elect Jason Wentworth:
"The overheated language of the statement issued by speaker Chatfield and Speaker-elect Wentworth illustrates that the republicans prioritize partisan politics and political theater over healing the wounds of division, preserving the well-being of the legislature as an institution, protecting the safety of members, and acting on the needs of the people of Michigan."