Thirty statewide advocacy groups are urging the Republicans who lead the Arizona House of Representatives to take action against a GOP legislator who called for the execution of a Democratic congresswoman because she urged people upset with President Donald Trump to peacefully protest in the streets.
Kingman Republican Rep. John Gillette wrote on the social media site X on Sept. 25 that U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, was calling for the government to be overthrown and should be hanged.
“Until people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried convicted and hanged.. it will continue,” Gillette said in response to a video of Jayapal. X has since limited the visibility of Gillette’s post because it violates the social media site’s policy on violent threats.
The Arizona Mirror was the first to report on Gillette’s call for violence against Jayapal.
“Representative Gillette’s comments were disorderly behavior of the highest order, reflect a broader pattern of inciting political violence that put lives at risk, and should not be tolerated by Arizona House leadership,” the letter obtained exclusively by the Arizona Mirror says, citing the House’s own rules. “We urge you to take action against Representative Gillette’s incitement of violence against another elected official, to demonstrate to the people of Arizona that they are free to non-violently protest and engage with their state legislature without fear for their lives.”
In an interview this week with the Arizona Republic, Gillette doubled down on his violent rhetoric, saying his only regret is that he should have said Jayapal should face a “firing squad” instead of being hanged to death.
Gillette’s comments come at a time of heightened political tensions and political violence, which the thirty organizations cited in their letter to House Speaker Steve Montenegro.
“This call for execution is deeply concerning in light of the recent assassination of Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her husband, the shooting of Minnesota state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, the murder of Charlie Kirk, and the arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home,” the letter says.
Gillette himself spread unfounded conspiracy theories around the Minnesota shooter in the aftermath of the attack, attempting to pin the blame on Democrats. The accused murderer was an ardent supporter of Trump and Republicans.
Jayapal, who was the focus of Gillette’s most recent comments, has had an armed man show up at her house to harass her.
“To incite violence against Representative Jayapal, who has already faced deadly threats and intimidation, is unconscionable,” the letter says.
Gillette posted a press release on his Facebook page in which he denied calling for Jaypal’s execution and said the initial reporting on his earlier X post was “demonstrably false.”
He accused Jayapal of committing treason and said that any American who says what she did or “attempts to overthrow the United States Government” by engaging in insurrection should face the death penalty under the law.
“That is not my invention; it is established law,” Gillette wrote.
Except that it’s not. Federal law sets the penalty for insurrection at a maximum of 10 years in prison, and treason is defined as levying war against the United States or giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Federal law says that the penalty for treason can range from five years in prison to death.
Protesting a president does not meet the legal standard for either insurrection or treason. And the First Amendment protects free speech and peaceful protests.
Gillette went on to defend his call for executing Jayapal and other anti-Trump protesters because he called for them to have due process, which he noted is “the foundation of the American justice system,” and said he would do the same for “anyone regardless of party who openly advocates for the violent overthrow of the American government.”
That position is in contrast to his support for the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, violently assaulting police officers and breaking down doors and windows in order to access the building so they could stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election.
On several occasions, he has called the 1,600 or so people who were prosecuted — and since pardoned by Trump — for their actions that day “political prisoners.”
Gillette’s recent comments come after some of his democratic colleagues have voiced concerns over his rhetoric after he castigated them for calling for civility and unity in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In a message to all his fellow lawmakers that included a racial slur, he placed blame for political violence solely on Democrats and the political left, accusing them of stoking hate and violence against Republicans.
“The tone was set by your party; unity is no longer an option,” he wrote on Sept. 14 to the 59 other members of the state House. “We handed you an olive ranch (sic), and you broke it. Your party invited the radicals to the table and they took over. Now you own them. As the J**s did at Peral (sic) Harbor, Radical Muslims on 911, your party has woken the sleeping giant.”
Last month, Gillette also came under fire for Islamophobic comments that led to an ethics complaint that was ultimately dismissed. The Republican chair of the House Ethics Committee said that Gillette had a First Amendment right to say whatever he wanted on social media without consequence.
