CNN's Kate Bolduan pushed back on a Republican congressman's claims about paid protesters showing up to town halls.
GOP lawmakers have faced down angry protesters lashing out over president Donald Trump's agenda and Elon Musk's cuts to the federal workforce, and Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) blamed the media for inciting the confrontations and agreed with Republican leadership that the demonstrations were staged.
"I think it's a symptom literally of the division in our country and, frankly, and I don't mean to hurt anybody's feelings there, but I think the media is the primary cause of this because of how it stokes emotions," Murphy told "CNN News Central." "Look, you know, I think there are paid protesters, there are people who are professional protesters. Look, I try to have decent, respectful discussions – if we disagree, we disagree. But but the yelling, the profanities, the death threats really are uncalled for and, you know, that's not the way I run things."
Some of Murphy's constituents in eastern North Carolina have complained that he hasn't held in-person town hall meetings and has instead opted for telephone town halls, which one Jacksonville man described to a local TV station as a "debacle" that excluded many would-be participants.
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"Everybody runs things a little bit differently," Murphy told CNN. "I prefer to have a much more smaller, respectful discussions. We do a lot of telephone town halls. I think this is a sad, emblematic state of our of our country right now, being so divided. But this is emblematic of what we're facing."
Host Kate Boluden corrected the lawmaker, saying there was no evidence showing that protesters at GOP events had been paid to attend.
"Yeah, I don't have any information about protesters being paid," Bolduan said. "Anything beyond that, I will just say that I know that we've heard people talk about that and make that accusation before."
Bolduan asked Murphy about the criticism he's faced back home, but he stood by his refusal to meet with constituents in person, citing an event Tuesday in Georgia with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) where six demonstrators were removed, three were arrested and two of them shocked with stun guns.
"Well, if you see what just happened, I mean, they're just not fruitful," Murphy said. "They're not something that I think there is respectful debate. I have office, there have been a lot of protesters that want to meet with me in my office and, absolutely, I'm doing that all the time now, but I'm not going to sit and let things degrade into where it's not really fruitful, it's not anything that, is productive, and so, at this point in time, I'm happy to meet with people if they call and want to have a civil discussion. But as far as just raucous screaming and yelling, I'm not interested in that because I don't think that is fruitful for anybody."
