FACT CHECK: Did Tim Kaine And Loretta Lynch Call For Blood And Death In The Streets?
After a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers Wednesday, the media outlet Infowars claimed that two Democratic Party leaders were partially responsible for inciting violence with their rhetoric.
“FLASHBACK: Tim Kaine, Loretta Lynch Called For Blood & Death In Streets,” the headline read.
Verdict: False
Infowars took remarks by Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch out of context. Neither called for blood and death.
Fact Check:
On MSNBC in January, Kaine discussed how Democrats could capitalize on an energized base in order to successfully resist the Trump administration. He referred to healthcare rallies, the Women’s March and travel ban protests as early sources of momentum. Kaine suggested building on the “fight in the streets,” a phrase Infowars claims is a call to violence.
“What we’ve got to do is fight in Congress, fight in the courts, fight in the streets, fight online, fight at the ballot box,” Kaine said. “And now there’s the momentum to be able to do this.”
Arguing a literal interpretation rather than a figurative one, “fighting” would mean that Kaine also advocated violence in the halls of Congress, the courts and elsewhere. There is no evidence to suggest a literal interpretation of this wording is correct. Additionally, Kaine never mentions blood or death in the quotes used by Infowars.
The Infowars article also cites a short video from February in which Lynch reassures the Democratic base in the aftermath of the presidential election that despite trials and setbacks, history has shown that defenders of freedom can weather hard times.
Lynch: We have always had to work to move this country forward to achieve the great ideals of our founding fathers. And it has been people, individuals, who have banded together – ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals – who have made the difference. They’ve marched, they’ve bled – yes, some of them have died. This is hard. Every good thing is. We have done this before. We can do this again.
In the video, Lynch does not call for blood and death as the article claims. Infowars mischaracterizes the statements of these two Democratic leaders and presents a false claim.
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