Scalise: Democrats need to denounce political violence

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Wednesday that Democrats need to denounce violence done in the name of politics, after a man allegedly attempted to stab a GOP congressional candidate in California.

“There’s no place for it. If somebody on the right was doing it, we’d be vocally denouncing it. They need to be denouncing it on the left,” Scalise said on “Fox and Friends.”

The assailant in the Tuesday attack allegedly shouted profanities about President Trump before attempting to stab Republican Rudy Peters, who is running in the state’s 15th District.

Fox News host Ed Henry also brought up recent confrontations between Trump administration critics and officials that have happened in restaurants and other public places. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) drew criticism in June for encouraging Americans to continue the confrontations, which the critics call harassment.

“They need to be denouncing that kind of activity,” Scalise said.

“You should not incite violence or any kind of assaulting people based on their political views and especially if it’s somebody who’s working in the administration and you’re attacking them because of what they do and what they believe in,” he said. “That’s not what American ideals are about.”

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Scalise was critically wounded by gunfire when a man who authorities say was “fueled by rage against Republican legislators” opened fire on him and three others last June.

“Leadership on the Democrats’ side needs to stand up and say this is wrong, no matter what your differences with the president or anybody else, you go and you solve them,” Scalise separately told Fox Business Wednesday. “We’re going to have an election in a few weeks, that’s how you resolve it. You don’t resort to violence.”

Scalise added that Democrats “need to be called out” by the mainstream media.

“If you saw this happen on the right, you know where the mainstream media would be,” Scalise said. “The mainstream media needs to be in the same place, calling this out too, and calling on leaders on the Republican and Democrat side to denounce it.”