Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, called
the vandalism of his Louisville, Ky., home a “radical tantrum” taken from a
“toxic playbook.”
Allyson
Waller
By Allyson
Waller
Jan. 2,
2021, 2:21 p.m. ET
The homes
of Senator Mitch McConnell and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the two most powerful
members of Congress, have been reported vandalized, days after the contentious
passage of a stimulus bill that has been criticized as inadequate by a broad
coalition ranging from progressive activists to President Trump.
In a
statement on Saturday, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, lamented what he
called a “radical tantrum” drawn from a “toxic playbook.” The Louisville
station WDRB-TV reported that the senator’s home was tagged overnight with red
and white spray paint. Photos show writing on the front of the home, including
“Weres my money” on the front door. The Louisville Metro Police Department did
not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
“I’ve spent
my career fighting for the First Amendment and defending peaceful protest,” Mr.
McConnell said in the statement. “I appreciate every Kentuckian who has engaged
in the democratic process whether they agree with me or not. This is different.
Vandalism and the politics of fear have no place in our society.”
At about 2
a.m. on Friday, San Francisco police officers responded to a report of
vandalism at a home in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. Graffiti was
found spray-painted on the garage door and “a pig’s head” was left on the
sidewalk, a Police Department spokesman said. The San Francisco Chronicle
reported that the home belonged to Ms. Pelosi.
The Police
Department did not respond to additional questions, including whether the pig’s
head discovered on the speaker’s property was real or fake. The speaker’s
office did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
On Tuesday,
Mr. McConnell blocked an effort to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600
after the House voted on Monday to bump the size of payments. The proposed
increase was part of a list of demands from President Trump that included
investigating his baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election and
repealing certain legal protections for tech giants such as Facebook, Google
and Twitter.
Mr. McConnell
said on Tuesday that the Senate would “begin a process” to consider bigger
payments along with Mr. Trump’s other demands.
Before the
House’s vote on Monday, Ms. Pelosi said in a statement that to vote against the
increase in stimulus payments “is to deny the financial hardship that families
face and to deny them the relief they need.”
Last
Sunday, Mr. McConnell applauded Mr. Trump’s signing of the new stimulus bill in
a statement posted to Twitter.
“The
compromise bill is not perfect,” he said. “But it will do an enormous amount of
good for struggling Kentuckians and Americans across the country who need help
now.”
Allyson
Waller is part of the 2020-2021 New York Times Fellowship class and is a general
assignment reporter on the Express desk. @allyson_renee7
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