During the same weekend a second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump was thwarted, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) was similarly threatened. The Florida Congresswoman spoke about the threat in a recent appearance on Fox Business's Cavuto Coast to Coast, blaming heated political rhetoric and polarization as the catalyst.
Although Rep. Luna could not give much detail about the specifics of the threat, she emphasized that "this is not something that they think is just a joke."
"I think the political rhetoric, in addition to the tensions that we are seeing leading up to the November election, it is a dangerous time to be in politics, and obviously hate has no place here, and so we immediately condemn that," said Rep. Luna.
Host Neil Cavuto asked if there was a potential connection between the sender of the threat against Rep. Luna and Ryan Routh, the man who attempted to assassinate Trump over the weekend. She replied that there was no evidence for or against the theory, "but what I would actually be comfortable at least saying on air is that it was from a very far-left activist, at least from what I gather."
"But it is alarming that we are specifically seeing that people that are simply fighting for Americans that feel that they have been left behind or ignored by Washington are becoming the targets. And I also would like to point out that female members of Congress are actually the most targeted for violence and harassment," Luna added. " It is one thing when you hear just hear about it on television, or people might not know me, so they might not have that connection, but it is different when you have a one-year-old at home and you are a new mom."
The conversation shifted toward the calls for "cooling down" political rhetoric, with Cavuto asking if Trump was equally culpable for using strong language, such as during the debate when he alleged Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets and doctors are supposedly performing after-birth abortions.
Luna countered, "If you notice, the moderators were not exactly fact-checking [Vice President] Kamala Harris and her claims."
