GOP congresswoman forced to delete tweet mocking Paul Pelosi attack

A GOP congresswoman has been forced to delete a tweet mocking the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Claudia Tenney, a Republican from the 24th District of New York, retweeted a photoshopped image of a group of men holding hammers in front of what some claim is the home of Pelosi-attacker David DePape.

“LOL,” Ms Tenney wrote on 28 October.

On Tuesday morning, journalist Aaron Ruper tweeted a screenshot of the post, writing that Ms Tenney “posted this remarkably cruel tweet laughing at the brutal beating of her colleague’s husband and then when people started dragging her for it, she turned off the replies instead of deleting. Cowardly”.

“Sometime today, after I called her out for it, @claudiatenney deleted this tweet without comment,” Mr Rupar added on Tuesday night.

Actor George Takei tweeted: “A sitting Republican Rep running in upstate NY using a homophobic meme to make light of political violence. Yep, sounds about right coming from MAGA deplorable @ClaudiaTenney.”

“She will win in a landslide. Ny24 is predominantly Republican. Hence why she is running in a district she doesn’t even live in,” one Twitter user responded.

Ms Tenney shot back: “I live and vote in Canandaigua which is in the heart of the district. These replies are so funny!”

Former Republican strategist and Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt tweeted: “Hey @claudiatenney WTF is wrong with you? You are a Member of Congress. An 82 year old man was beaten with a hammer and had ... surgery. He is a husband, a father and a grandfather. He is an American who was asleep in his home. Wow! You are sick, broken and unfit. Good god.”

California Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell wrote: “Wow. I called @claudiatenney out for this disgusting tweet about Paul Pelosi. Thousands of you condemned it. What did she do? Did she take it down? No. She blocked your ability to comment. Snowflake”.

“The level of evil it takes to find humor in the violent attack of an 82 year old man is not something I ever want to understand. However @claudiatenney you have most certainly proven beyond all doubt that you are unfit to sit in the US Congress,” one Twitter user said.

Several Republicans have made light of the attack on Mr Pelosi.

Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake went on Fox News on Monday and told host Tucker Carlson that she was being silenced by the media for joking about the attack.

“Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s got protection when she’s in DC — apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection,” Ms Lake said during a campaign event earlier on Monday, according to NBC News.

“We can’t talk about all these issues because the media has told us they’re prohibited,” Ms Lake told Mr Carlson. “You can’t talk about vaccines. You can’t talk about elections. You can’t talk about Paul Pelosi – now you can’t talk about Nancy Pelosi. And you can’t talk about the elections.”

“I’m dangerous to people like Liz Cheney and the folks that she hangs out with, and they want to stop people like me,” she added.