Rubio warns of protestors who disrupt hearings: ‘One day something really bad is gonna happen’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., warned of the continued congressional hearing disruptions caused by pro-Hamas protestors inside the nation’s capitol.
He made the remarks during an interview with Fox and Friends on Wednesday, following protestors’ disruption of a Senate committee hearing where Secretary of State Antony Blinken was testifying.
“These protestors, it’s the same group, this pink communist group, Code Pink, nothing happens to these people,” Rubio said.
“They habitually and consistently disrupt congressional proceedings. I thought that was a crime according to prosecutors,” he added. “Nothing happens to them.”
“They’re arrested, they’re put out on bail, they’re fined, they’re let go and they’re back out here the next day doing the exact same thing,” he continued. “Someday something really bad is gonna happen.”
Rubio argued that President Joe Biden’s response to the war in Gaza has fueled Hamas and shown that the terrorist group has more of an influence on Americans than originally expected.
“It gives [Hamas] the ability to think that [they] can hold out longer, to play harder ball in negotiations, to increase what the conditions would be for any ceasefire and the end to hostilities,” he said.
“So in addition to hurting Israel tactically, it is encouraging Hamas,” the senator added.
Blinken’s opening statement during a hearing on supplemental funding for national security was interrupted several times by protestors opposing the United States position on the war and the country’s support for the the state of Israel.
Those interrupting could be heard saying “ceasefire now” and “save the children of Gaza.”
Roughly a quarter of the the public in attendance of the hearing would silently raise their hands when a new demonstrator caused commotion. The palms of the protestors hands were died red to most likely indicate that Blinken and the senators had “blood” on their hands for their refusal to call for a ceasefire.
Biden briefly raised humanitarian concerns about Palestinians living in Gaza who were suffering from Israel’s response. Republicans lashed out at the president for temporarily halting the shipment of weapons to Israel due to the nation’s intention to bomb Rafah, a southern city in Gaza housing many Palestinian refugees.
He soon after switched his rhetoric, committing to sending another $1 billion in arms and ammunition to help Israel with the conflict.
Biden also said during a recent speech that what was happening in the region was “not a genocide.”
