Representative Paul Gosar posts video depicting violence against Ocasio Cortez and Biden

Gosar is portrayed as a cartoon-type hero and is seen attacking a giant with Ocasio-Cortez’s face with a sword from behind. The giant can then be seen collapsing to the ground.

Another scene shows Gosar flying through the air, swinging two swords at a figure with the face of President Biden.

Gosar said in a statement Tuesday evening that he “does not espouse violence or harm towards any member of Congress or Mr. Biden,” adding that the video “symbolizes the battle for the soul of America when the Congress is picking up “the president’s economic package, which he says includes immigration provisions he disagrees with.

“This video is truly a symbolic representation of a struggle over immigration policy,†the congressman said in the statement.

Gosar had tweeted a similar sentiment Tuesday morning, using another meme that included the phrase “It’s a cartoon. Relax.”

Calls to parliamentary minority leader Kevin McCarthy for comment were not returned.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged McCarthy to call on the House Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate Gosar’s video.

“Threats of violence against members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated. @GOPLeader should join the condemnation of this horrific video and call on the ethics committee and law enforcement to investigate, “Pelosi tweeted Tuesday.

In a press release, four Democrats who co-chair the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee wrote: “In any other job in America, if a coworker made a video killing another coworker, that person would be dismissed. “

Democrats called on McCarthy to act, writing “Mr. McCarthy must decide whether he will finally side with the American people on the side of law and order or whether he will continue to support violence and chaos.” The co-chairs are Democratic Representatives Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania, Debbie Dingell of Michigan, Ted Lieu of California and Joe Neguse of Colorado.

Twitter said Monday evening that the video violated its “hateful conduct” rules, but had not removed the video, instead affixing a tag that read: “Twitter has determined that it may be in the best interests of the public that the Tweet remains accessible. “

The video was also posted on Instagram, owned by Facebook (now Meta).

Instagram called the video “sensitive content” on Tuesday. “The video may contain graphic or violent content,†the label reads.

In a section explaining why the video was tagged this way, Instagram explains, “This post is not against our community’s standards, but may contain images that some people might find offensive.”

The company did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on Monday evening.

White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that “there is absolutely no room for any kind of – no room for any kind of violence in this political system.” but it didn’t influence how media companies should go about moderating this type of content.

“I don’t want to go any further than that. I leave it up to the social media platform to figure out how it is going to move forward. But there is no room for any kind of violence or this. kind of language in the political system and that shouldn’t be happening and we should condemn it, â€she said during a White House press briefing.

Several law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice, cleared the officer of any wrongdoing during the shooting.

This story was updated with additional developments on Tuesday.