Protesters gather outside White House after RNC
Sen. Rand Paul was surrounded by protesters near the White House after the RNC; Rep. Jim Jordan and Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy weigh in on ‘Fox & Friends.’
Those charged with violence, looting or vandalism in connection with a protest and found guilty “shouldn’t receive” enhanced coronavirus unemployment benefits “any longer,” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Sunday.
Banks made the comment two days after he introduced a bill, the “Support Peaceful Protest Act,” which would also make rioters “financially liable for the cost of federal policing.”
Banks told “Fox & Friends Weekend” that he decided to sponsor the bill after an older couple, who are his constituents, were harassed by protesters while leaving President Trump’s nomination acceptance speech at the White House on Thursday evening.
“When I saw this happen to friends of mine walking out of the White House on a historic night, they came to see the president, one of the best presidents in a lifetime speak at the White House, they never could have imagined what they would be met with when they left the White House that night,” Banks said on Sunday.
HOUSE BILL WOULD BLOCK RIOTERS FROM CORONAVIRUS UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
“Let me say if this happened in a community in northeast Indiana, that Antifa thug would have been arrested and charged with assault and should be behind bars,” he continued. “But they’re not because these big-city mayors are turning a blind eye to this type of violence.”
He went on to explain that his "bill, the ‘Support Peaceful Protest Act,’ would take away the enhanced federal benefits, that $600 a week that these people are making, to be professional protesters at night.”
“I looked around that night and I thought who are paying these people to show up every single night and protest and cause violence in the streets,” Banks said. “There are probably a lot of left-wing groups, and George Soros type groups that are funding it, but if you think about it so are you and I through our tax dollars that go to the enhanced unemployment benefits that these people receive.”
“They shouldn't receive it any longer if they’re found guilty of causing violence and riots in the streets,” Banks continued.
Banks, however, has said he supports peaceful protests.
He went on to point out that “there never are” any consequences for those people who engage in violence during protests in big cities with Democratic leaders.
“These big cities where this type of violence is occurring you almost never see these thugs arrested as they should be,” Banks said.
He said that during Trump’s speech at the RNC on Thursday night he talked about “what happened when he signed the executive order to institute a 10-year prison term on those who tear down statues and almost immediately, those incidents stopped happening.”
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“If we do something like this, I think it will have the same effect because these people will think twice about the type of activities that they're engaged with on a nightly basis if we take away their extra $600 a week,” Banks said.
Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
