Michigan House
Michigan Rep. Gary Eisen, R-St. Clair Township.
Michigan Rep. Gary Eisen hinted of a sinister plot to undermine or disrupt the Electoral College meeting Monday, calling it a “historic event” that “will be all over the news later on.”
In a bizarre radio interview on WPHM-AM on Monday morning, the St. Clair Township Republican did not elaborate but said he could not rule out violence when the host asked if he can assure “this is going to be a safe day in Lansing.”
“No. I don’t know because what we’re doing today is uncharted,” Eisen responded. “It hasn’t been done.”
He said the Michigan Republican Party is behind it.
The Michigan Capitol is closed Monday following “credible threats of violence” as electors plan to cast their votes for president at 2 p.m. Monday in the Senate chamber.
Michigan Republican legislative leaders said they didn’t know what Eisen was talking about but removed him from his committee assignments as a disciplinary action.
“We have been consistent in our position on issues of violence and intimidation in politics — it is never appropriate and never acceptable,” Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield, R-Levering and Speaker-elect Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, said in a joint statement. “That is true of threats or suggestions of violence against Gov. Whitmer, Secretary Benson, Rep. Johnson and others on the Oversight committee, Republicans, Democrats, and members of the Electoral college. That applies to threats made toward public officials, and it must also apply when the public officials open the door to violent behavior and refuse to condemn it. We must do better.”
They added, “We as elected officials must be clear that violence has no place in our democratic process. We must be held to a higher standard. Because of that, Rep. Eisen has been removed from his committee assignments for the rest of the term.”
The discipline is a virtual slap on the wrist because the term expires later this month.
Republican legislative leaders took similar actions against Rep. Cynthia Johnson, D-Detroit, last week after they claimed she made “threats” against Republicans in a Facebook video.
Also on Monday morning, senior White House adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News that “an alternate” group of electors from “contested states” will vote for Trump.
Eisen was among 15 Republican lawmakers from Michigan who filed legal briefs supporting a baseless Texas lawsuit that attempted to block Biden’s victory in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Georgia. The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case on Friday.
President-elect Joe Biden defeated Trump in Michigan by more than 154,000 votes.
Metro Times couldn’t reach Eisen for comment.
Stay on top of Detroit news and views. Sign up for our weekly issue newsletter delivered each Wednesday.
