GOP Congresswoman Confronted Over Trump’s Threat to Jail Democrats in Tense CNN Interview

In a tense interview Monday, the hosts of CNN’s The Situation Room confronted Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) about President Donald Trump’s threats to jail Democrats for “sedition.”

Trump has continued to push the idea that a group of six Democratic lawmakers, who made a video telling service members to disobey “illegal orders,” should be jailed for sedition, which he contended was “punishable by DEATH.”

Despite the fact that the two Democratic senators and four representatives now require 24/7 police protection following Trump’s accusation, McClain said she agreed with Trump’s methods.

“The president actually brought attention to the seriousness of the video that the Democrat senators put together,” McClain said.

McClain condemned all types of political violence, before adding, “I think what the president was doing, though, was reminding you of the oath that you did take. And there are consequences. So you can have freedom of speech, but freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. And that was the reminder, I think, in that.”

Pamela Brown asked, “But what kind of message does it send to someone who may be unhinged, that what they did was sedition, punishable by death, and that they are traitors?”

“We see that all the time,” McClain continued. “I can’t tell you how many death threats I have because of the rhetoric that is out there, right?”

McClain then shifted the blame to the Democrats, urging Brown to “take a look at who started this. Those senators got online and said, ‘Hey, go ahead, disobey some orders if you don’t agree with them’…The problem with the Democrats is, they started it. And then when we come in and correct the truth with the other half of the truth, they lose their mind”

She added, “We’ve got to stop this Trump Derangement Syndrome, because it really is not helping anybody.”

Wolf Blitzer pressed McClain for clarification: “I just want to be precise, congresswoman: Should members of the U.S. Military or the intelligence community for that matter, obey what are clearly illegal orders? If in their mind what they’re being told to do is something illegal, should they still go ahead and follow those rules?”

“You’re asking an enlisted person for their opinion on what they think is legal or illegal. That’s a pretty slippery slope, wouldn’t you agree with that?” McClain replied. “And what the president has done is not illegal, right? So, I would say, follow the chain of command. Follow your commander in chief. That’s the oath that you took. Because if you leave everything up to interpretation, you can interpret things one way, I could interpret things another way. And that is a very dangerous situation to put this nation in.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.