This is a developing story… Please check back for possible updates…
Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday moved to expel a trio of Democratic lawmakers over recently interrupting a floor session with chants for gun control in the wake of the deadly Covenant School shooting in Nashville.
As protesters gathered at the state Capitol in support of Tennessee Reps. Gloria Johnson (D-13), Justin Jones (D-52), and Justin Pearson (D-86), the Democrats were each given 20 minutes to defend themselves before the expected votes on the expulsion resolutions.
The room was “silent as Jones took the podium, but just outside the chamber doors, a crowd of protestors screamed cheers of support,”
The Tennessea reports. “As Jones spoke in his own defense, they began chanting: ‘Go Justin go!'”
Watch the proceedings live:
“The world is watching Tennessee,” Jones said on the floor, “because what is happening here today is a farce of democracy.”
“What we see today is just a spectacle,” he continued, noting that Republicans have already signaled their intention to expel them. “What we see today is a lynch mob assembled to not lynch me but our democratic process. But it will not stand.”
Directly addressing the Republicans advocating expulsion, Jones declared that “we called for you all to ban assault weapons, and you respond with an assault on democracy. That is why the nation is watching you today.”
“This is not about expelling us as individuals,” he stressed, pointing to public demands for gun control. “This is your attempt to expel the voice of the people from the people’s House, and it will not be successful.”
The GOP effort the expel the trio has been condemned across Tennessee and the United States, with
hundreds of legislators from other states, national rights leaders, and even the White House denouncing the campaign as undemocratic.
