Reinstated Dem Rep Who Joined With Mob At Tennessee Capitol Says Republicans Want To ‘Reenact The Civil War’

Reinstated Dem Rep Who Joined With Mob At Tennessee Capitol Says Republicans Want To ‘Reenact The Civil War’

Harold Hutchison on April 13, 2023

A Democratic state representative who was reinstated after being expelled for joining a mob that stormed the state capitol said Thursday Republicans were “reenacting the Civil War.”

“They really are reenacting the Civil War. You heard Representative Cepicky say, you know, we need to come hard against them, you know, because if we don’t Tennessee will fall and the southeast will fall and the left will take over,” Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones told CNN host Jake Tapper.

“You hear this mentality that is very extreme and very alarming,” Jones continued. “I mean, we’re dealing with people who want to reenact the Civil War.”

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Jones and Democratic State Reps. Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson of Tennessee faced expulsion after protesters stormed the Tennessee state capitol March 30, demanding passage of gun control laws three days after Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old female shooter who identified as transgender, killed three children and three adults at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, before being engaged and fatally wounded by law enforcement.

The Tennessee House of Representatives expelled Jones and Pearson Thursday, while Johnson avoided expulsion by one vote. The Nashville City Council reappointed Jones to the seat on an interim basis Monday.

Video of Jones apparently taking part in an attack on a motorist during the 2020 riots following the death of George Floyd while in police custody resurfaced Thursday. In the video, Jones is seen apparently picking up a traffic cone and throwing it at a driver who appeared to be trying to get away.

Jones was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment in 2021, but the case was closed the following year.