GOP congressman says threats are 'not what our democracy is about'
CNN
Physical threats to lawmakers, their staff and family are "not what our democracy is about" Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, a Republican who received a violent voicemail after voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, said Sunday.
"It's a tough time, and it's so unsettling," Upton told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" when asked if he was concerned the Capitol insurrection was the beginning or end of a new era of political violence. "It is a sad day in America when this type of stuff -- I have got a better four-letter word for it, but I will save you -- when it happens."
Upton, one of 13 House Republicans who voted with Democrats to pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, previously shared with CNN a voicemail in which a caller told him: "I hope you die. I hope everybody in your f**king family dies," while labeling him a "f**king piece of sh*t traitor." His office said the voicemail was not an isolated incident. The calls came after Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, also a Republican, tweeted the phone numbers of those who had voted for the bill and later called them traitors.
When Kenyan President William Ruto touched down in Beijing seven months ago, he was welcomed on the tarmac with a red carpet and cordons of Chinese troops standing at attention. Among the goals of his three-day state visit in October: Securing another $1 billion in loans from China to help complete infrastructure projects.