State Dem Party Official on Scalise: 'I'm Glad He Got Shot'

Phil Montag removed by Nebraska State Democratic Party chair
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 23, 2017 1:32 PM CDT
State Dem Party Official on Scalise: 'I'm Glad He Got Shot'
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot earlier this month during a congressional baseball practice. A Nebraska State Democratic Party official was removed Thursday after he was heard in a recording wishing Scalise had died.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The co-chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party's technology committee was removed Thursday following an expletive-filled rant about Steve Scalise, the GOP representative shot during a congressional baseball practice, the Omaha World-Herald reports. “I did not call for the congressman’s death,” Phil Montag says. But in a recording released online, Montag can be heard saying: "I'm glad he got shot. I'm not going to f---ing say that in public. I wish he was f---ing dead." Montag, who was upset with Scalise's efforts to "kick people off" healthcare, says the recording was edited to take his comments out of context. According to KETV, the Nebraska Republican Party called his comments "completely reprehensible and disappointing."

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb removed Montag from his position when she heard the recording. “This violent rhetoric and this hate ... is literally not helping anybody in this country,” Kleeb tells WOWT. Kleeb also reported Montag to the police for possible death threats. Montag made the comments during a conversation with Nebraska Democratic Party Black Caucus Chair Chelsey Gentry-Tipton. The recording was made by Gentry-Tipton's friend. The Black Caucus chair is in hot water for her own comments on the Virginia shooting. She posted on social media that she "found it funny" watching GOP lawmakers cry on camera given their support for the NRA. Kleeb has called on Gentry-Tipton to resign. (More Nebraska stories.)

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