Capitol Police Investigate Threat Against Claire McCaskill
After a statement made at a tea party rally Thursday, local law enforcement and Capitol Police are investigating a potential threat to Sen. Claire McCaskill.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, at a Tea Party Express rally last week in Springfield, Mo., activist Scott Boston riled up the crowd to defeat the Missouri Democrat, who is fighting to keep her set in the next Congress.
“We have to kill the Claire Bear,” Boston reportedly said. “She walks around like she’s some sort of Rainbow Brite Care Bear or something, but really she’s an evil monster.”
Tea Party Express has endorsed one of McCaskill’s Republican opponents, Sarah Steelman, who was also at the rally, the Post-Dispatch reports.
McCaskill’s office is declining media requests for comments on issues relating to her security and whether the incident has resulted in increased police protection, as some reports contend. But Capitol Police spokeswoman Lt. Kimberly Schneider confirmed to Roll Call on Tuesday evening that there is an “active, open investigation” among the Capitol Police and local police departments.
This is the second time in the past month that comments from tea party activists against Members of Congress have been brought to the attention of law enforcement.
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said she alerted Capitol Police when “potentially threatening” phone calls began flooding her district and Capitol Hill offices late last month.
Clarke said in a statement that the calls came on the heels of a conservative website posting footage of a local talk wherein she suggested that tea party activists were contributing to poisonous political rhetoric in Washington, D.C.