During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this Thursday, Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) slammed his Republican colleagues for indulging in unfounded conspiracy theories, calling on them to “cease and desist” the slandering of law enforcement.
Dent addressed his criticism towards President Trump, but more specifically to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who, among other congressional Republicans, claimed there is a “secret society” within the FBI that’s planning a coup against Trump. The “secret society” claim originated from a sarcastic joke between two FBI agents.
When asked by host Willie Geist about the claims from Johnson and others, Dent replied, “No, I don’t believe there is an Illuminati at the FBI.”
“We have been the party, traditionally, of law enforcement at the state and local level and also at the federal level,” Dent said.
“We were mortified a couple years ago when many on the far left were launching these attacks against police,” he continued. “Now here we are, as a party, trying to brand ourselves as somehow suggesting that the men and women of the FBI are not as professional as they ought to be. We need to get behind law enforcement, show some respect here, and move away from these conspiracy theories.”
“I’ve never heard of an administration, a president attacking his own government,” he added.
“But that’s essentially what’s happening, and I think my colleagues ought to cease and desist from some of this rhetoric against our law enforcement officials who are very professional and thorough.”
Watch the exchange in the video via ThinkProgress:
Featured image via screen grab
