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U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, Republican of Louisiana, expanded on his highly-controversial paramilitary remarks from last week by issuing a statement baselessly claiming the 37-criminal felony count indictment of Donald Trump is part of the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s plan to “entrap” and imprison America’s conservatives.
“This latest DOJ persecution against President Trump is an example of more than just weaponization of our DOJ/FBI against a conservative American leader, it’s an example of the now SOP [standard operating procedure] entrapment-staging that the FBI conducts,” Congressman Higgins said in a lengthy Sunday press release.
Higgins was far from done.
“My fellow conservatives,” his statement continues, “the DOJ/FBI doesn’t expect to imprison Trump, they expect to imprison you. They want J6 [the January 6, 2021 insurrection] again, in Miami and in your city and in mine. They want MAGA conservatives to react to this perimeter probe and in doing so, set yourselves up for targeted persecution and further entrapment.”
As a point of fact, Donald Trump and his allies created the January 6 insurrection, with Trump tweeting out the date as a call to action, urging supporters to “Be there,” and promising, “will be wild!”
Higgins, without offering any evidence, continued: “They want to intercept a busload of conservatives en route to protest and create conflicts during the stop. They are hoping to provoke conservative Americans. Don’t fall for the trap. Maintain your family. Live your life. Live free and pay close attention and make your voice heard, yes… but don’t become an incarcerated pawn in the agenda driven DOJ/FBI strategy to oppress conservatives across America.”
There is no “agenda driven DOJ/FBI strategy to oppress conservatives across America.”
Higgins went on to claim – again, baselessly – that Trump was indicted “because they want you to let your anger overwhelm your strategic judgment and they expect you to step willingly into their trap. Don’t do it. Be aware and be prepared for anything, know your bridges as we say… but maintain your calm. Rock steady calm.”
“We will fight against this oppression,” he said, ramping up his talk of war again. “We are indeed, with every ounce of spirit, fighting against the insidious evil that threatens our beloved Republic, but We the People must fight against oppression legally, peacefully, and within the parameters of our Constitution.”
Higgins’ press release in part appeared to be designed to respond to allegations by some that a tweet he wrote and posted Thursday was a call for civil war. It was was first dismissed by many as what extremism expert and award-winning author Jeff Sharlet called “sputtering incoherence.” But Sharlet, a Dartmouth professor and author of several books exposing the far-religious right C-Street group known as “The Family,” deciphered Higgins’ tweet as a call for civil war.
“This isn’t a metaphor. This isn’t slow civil war. This is a congressman calling for the real thing,” Sharlet said, responding to Higgin’s tweet.
Deep scary: 1/50 k refers to military scale maps & publicly available US Geological Survey maps of areas mostly surrounding military installations. This isn’t a metaphor. This isn’t slow civil war. This is a congressman calling for the real thing. pic.twitter.com/HvAfn8yT4z
— THE UNDERTOW, by Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) June 9, 2023
Sharlet added that “buckle up” means “Prepare for war.” And “Know your bridges” is “militia speak for closing them down. County level insurrection.”
Congressman Higgins, a former Opelousas, Louisiana police officer who, according to an article in The IND, resigned in 2007 before city council-approved disciplinary action could be enacted against him. A 2020 article at NOLA.com explains that an “internal investigation in Opelousas … found that Higgins repeatedly grabbed [a suspect] around the neck, struck him across the head and allegedly kicked him as he lay handcuffed,” and then “lied about the incident.”
In 2016 Higgins again resigned, this time as a captain in the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office. CBS News reported, “Higgins had come under fire recently from the ACLU for a particularly tough-talking video.”
“In the video, Higgins, referred to the suspects as ‘animals,’ ‘thugs’ and ‘heathens,’ words that have sparked a heated debate.”
Just last month Congressman Higgins was accused of assault after a viral video appeared to show him physically pushing and removing a young man from a Washington, D.C, press conference hosted by far-right GOP members of Congress. Higgins later defended his actions by accusing the man he allegedly assaulted of appearing threatening and mentally unstable.
Higgins, who has declared his opposition to all gun control laws because murder is in the Bible while appearing to suggest it is in man’s nature to kill, also says America is a Christian nation.
Congressman Higgins drew national attention, and condemnation in 2017 for shooting a selfie political video inside the Auschwitz gas chamber.
As NCRM previously reported, Higgins last year was one of 33 Republicans who sponsored a federal, vigilante “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He was one of 28 House Republicans who refused to vote for the bipartisan Respect for Child Survivors Act, which would aid victims of child sex abuse and their families.
This year he was one of 26 Republicans on the House Oversight Committee who refused to sign a simple, two-sentence statement denouncing white supremacy.
In March, Higgins voiced opposition to the separation of church and state, while attacking liberal Americans and, seemingly the LGBTQ community along with one of the cornerstones of American democracy.
“Over time,” Higgins tweeted, “American communities will build beautiful, church owned public-access libraries. I’m going to help these churches get funding. We will change the whole public library paradigm. The libraries regular Americans recall are gone. They’ve become liberal grooming centers.”
That same month Congressman Higgins also promoted the idea of using the power of the federal government to assist and support someone who was under investigation and later charged with 34 felonies.
“It is pretty clearly a wrongful persecution of a free American citizen who happens to be the former president of the United States,” Rep. Higgins told The Daily Beast, referring to Donald Trump. “Because of those circumstances, I think it’s appropriate for Congress to inquire into what drove that decision making process for [Manhattan DA Alvin] Bragg.”
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