GOP lawmaker ends interview after being pressed on claim that ‘many’ mass shooters are Dems

The Republican lawmaker who said last month that “many” mass shooters “end up being Democrats” cut off an interview with a reporter who pressed her about the claim.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) was questioned about the statement by a local reporter, and responded by slamming the media. Video of the interview was posted on Monday, but it’s unclear when the exchange took place.

The reporter’s local station is also not clear from the video, but a microphone with a label for WRVO, an NPR affiliate in New York, can be seen.

The reporter can be heard telling Tenney that other news organizations had called her comments “false statements,” which she pushed back against.

{mosads}“It isn’t just Republicans who commit all these terrible crimes, it is across all sectors and it is people that are typically unstable and are committing all of these crimes that we’re seeing,” Tenney said.

She slammed the “abhorrent behavior of the media” and claimed that Democrats were exploiting “these terrible tragedies.”

“All I’m saying is everybody is guilty equally and that’s exactly what I said. If you listen to the 12 minute interview that’s exactly what I said it’s patently clear,” Tenney told the reporter.

“You didn’t listen to the interview. It’s fake news,” she said. “I answered your question every which way. It’s fake news.”

Tenney then walked away from the interview.

“Bye. Done. It’s ridiculous,” she said.

The GOP lawmaker said during an interview in the wake of the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., that “many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats.”

She later defended her comments, saying she was standing up “for law-abiding citizens who are smeared by anti-gun liberal elitists.” 

“I am fed up with the media and liberals attempting to politicize tragedies and demonize law-abiding gun owners and conservative Americans every time there is a horrible tragedy,” Tenney said in a statement at the time. “While we know the perpetrators of these atrocities have a wide variety of political views, my comments are in response to a question about the failure to prosecute illegal gun crime.”