Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) dismissed Republican outcry over his tweet listing top donors to President Donald Trump’s campaign, asserting that they are “public records.”
Castro, who also serves as his brother Julián Castro’s campaign manager, addressed the backlash on MSNBC Wednesday morning.
“When you make a political contribution, especially to a federal candidate, that’s a public record,” Castro said on “Morning Joe.” “And so that graphic lists people’s names and many of them are business owners so they actually own those companies. These are prominent donors, most of them public figures or many of them public figures. But their money is being taken and used to fuel these hateful ads and it has put millions of people in this country in fear.”
Rep. Castro dismisses GOP outrage over his donor list tweet pic.twitter.com/6IqEGvPP4s
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 7, 2019
Some prominent Republicans leapt on the tweet, accusing Castro of endangering the donors.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA):
Targeting and harassing Americans because of their political beliefs is shameful and dangerous. What happened to “when they go low, we go high?” Or does that no longer matter when your brother is polling at 1%? Americans deserve better. https://t.co/PiFcifpxc1
— Kevin McCarthy (@kevinomccarthy) August 6, 2019
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) (who was shot during a congressional baseball practice):
People should not be personally targeted for their political views. Period. This isn’t a game. It’s dangerous, and lives are at stake. I know this firsthand. https://t.co/PbxUMIOhae
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) August 6, 2019
Donald Trump Jr. took things a drastic step further, appearing on “Fox and Friends” to compare the tweet to the Dayton, Ohio shooter’s “kill list,” an alleged log of high school classmates he wanted to murder.
Trump Jr. compares Rep. Castro’s donor list tweet to the Dayton shooter’s alleged list of classmates he wanted to kill pic.twitter.com/x6QQzpOtZM
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 7, 2019
