Congresswoman Tells MSNBC: ‘Words Nowadays Can Actually Break Your Bones’

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) pledge to strip some Democrats of their committee positions should he become Speaker of the House under a slim Republican House majority is “tit for tat” politics motivated by “vengeance,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) declared on MSNBC.

According to the Democratic congresswoman, McCarthy should be more focused on the controversial statements coming from Republicans as “it is very well documented that words nowadays can actually break your bones.”

MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton interviewed the congresswoman and noted McCarthy recently suggesting he’d target the committee positions of lawmakers like Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Jackson Lee insisted Democrats would be the “adults” in the next Congress and focus on legislation. The committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot from 2020 has earned plenty of pushback from conservative lawmakers, who have argued the long-running investigation is not where congressional focus should be.

“It degrades the Congress,” Jackson Lee said of McCarthy potentially targeting Democratic lawmakers. She pointed to Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as lawmakers McCarthy should be focused on, noting a bizarre cartoon post from Gosar showing himself attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Jackson Lee also accused Taylor Greene of pushing “anti-Semitic” and “anti-Muslim” views and threatening Democratic leadership.

The congresswoman noted that McCarthy has had private conversations with his party’s more extreme members, but insisted this does nothing.

“He alleges that he spoke to them quietly in private. But that did nothing to the potential threat. And let me just say this, Reverend Sharpton. It is very well documented that words nowadays can actually break your bones,” she said.

Jackson Lee backed up her claim by name-dropping former President Donald Trump, referencing a 2016 comment where Trump joked he’d pay for the legal fees of anyone who attacks protesters looking to throw tomatoes at the stage.

“Words have generated violence. We’ve seen that since the former president of the United States generated his first remarks, ‘beat him up, I’ll pay for your lawyers,'” she said.

Watch above via MSNBC