Posted on 03/31/2006 8:54:36 AM PST by MikeA
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Capitol Hill police plan to issue an arrest warrant today for Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.).
The warrant is related to the incident Wednesday when McKinney allegedly slapped a Capitol Hill police officer.
Charges could range from assault on a police officer, which is a felony carrying a possible five year prison term, to simple assault, which is a misdeamenor.
McKinney has canceled a news conference that she had scheduled for this morning to discuss the incident.
McKinney issued a statement yesterday saying she "deeply regrets" the confrontation with the police officer.
The six-term congresswoman apparently struck a Capitol Police officer when he tried to stop her from entering a House office building without going through a metal detector. Members of Congress wear identifying lapel pins and routinely are waved into buildings without undergoing security checks. The officer apparently did not recognize McKinney, she said in a statement.
Asked on-camera Thursday by Channel 2 Action News whether she intended to apologize, McKinney refused to comment.
"I know that Capitol Hill Police are securing our safety, and I appreciate the work that they do. I have demonstrated my support for them in the past and I continue to support them now," she said in the statement on her Web site.
Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, engaged in a rhetorical scuffle over the incident.
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday labeled it "a mistake, an unfortunate lack of recognition of a member of Congress." She added that the police officer was not at fault.
"I would not make a big deal of this," said Pelosi, D-Calif.
Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., responded: "How many officers would have to be punched before it becomes a big deal?"
The dustup is the latest in a series of tangles for the roughly 1,200-officer Capitol Police department.
The department faces a difficult task -- protecting 535 members of Congress and the vast Capitol complex in an atmosphere thick with politics and privilege.
The safety of its members became a sensitive issue after a gunman in 1998 killed two officers outside the office of then-Republican Whip Tom DeLay of Texas.
More recently, police obeyed an order by an angry House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., to remove Democrats from a hearing room. Thomas later tearfully apologized on the House floor.
This year, during President Bush's State of the Union address, police drew criticism for first kicking antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan out of the House gallery, and then for evicting the wife of Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla.
Merle Black, a professor of politics at Emory University, says that while the scuffle was rare for an elected politician, it's unlikely to cost McKinney more than a few votes. Black says McKinney is in damage control -- cutting her losses by not insisting on right or wrong.
Just lovin' this!!! What a total ass that woman is.
Dream on.......
Of course you wouldn't-- liberals hate authority, law enforcement, civil order, national security....
i hope she is not allowed to smile in her mug shot!
"I would not make a big deal of this," said Pelosi, D-Calif
But I would if it were a Republican...
I have drool dripping from my chin on this possibility.
I agree, except her rotting has already come from within. She's just a spoiled kid that never grew up, wanting attention.
It has been posted here what great lengths she goes to to get her "aisle" seat at State of the Union addresses so she can get her mug on TV.
" Members of Congress wear identifying lapel pins and routinely are waved into buildings without undergoing security checks. The officer apparently did not recognize McKinney, she said in a statement."
Parsed that statement...She did not have the pin on her person.
She can "deeply regret" it in the pokey.
Liberals don't smile; they smirk.
Unless it was a Republican!! Then there would be wall to wall media coverage, pundits discussing the psychological problems of Republicans, calls for censure or impeachment, etc.,
That is your big problem Dims: If you complain about something someone does, it should be bad no matter what party they belong to.
Wrong. This is no big deal. Better is to not reelect her and let her get a job as a night watchman somewhere.
Hopefully the cops collar her ass right in front of the rest of the congress-stooges!!
I believe in NY an assualt on a police officer is a felony... Anybody know about DC?
ROFL :-D
Sorry Madam, but you are no Zsa Zsa Gabor!
Throw this traitor in prison and let her rot!!
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Right on. It is time these filthy liberals troublemakers got their due and this common, trashy, racist witch is due.
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