Tennessee GOP Moves To Expel House Democrats Over Link To Unruly Capitol Protest

Multiple Tennessee state Democrats are on the brink of expulsion, an extraordinarily rare move in the Volunteer State Capitol.

Last week, hundreds of protesters stormed the Capitol demanding the Republican-led Statehouse pass gun control measures in response to the Covenant school shooting that resulted in the deaths of six innocent people, including three children. (RELATED: Report: Nashville Elementary School Shooting Leaves Multiple Students, Adults And Gunman Dead)

As the chants echoed throughout the Capitol, three Democrat lawmakers approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn. Democrat State Reps. Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson, and Gloria Johnson shared the bullhorn and cheered on the raucous crowd.

Law enforcement officials could be seen in the Capitol attempting to control the crowd as more people stormed the building.

Republican Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton called for a recess and later pledged to hold the state Reps accountable. Sexton later wrote in a tweet that the lawmakers' participation in the protest was “unacceptable.”

“Their actions are and will always be unacceptable, and they break several rules of decorum and procedure on the House floor,” he said. “Their actions and beliefs that they could be arrested on the House floor were an effort, unfortunately, to make themselves the victims. In effect, those actions took away the voices of the protestors, the focus on the six victims who lost their lives, and the families who lost their loved ones.”

Republican Reps. Bud Hulsey, Gino Bulso, and Andrew Farmer filed the resolutions and Tennessee House Republicans voted Monday to strip committee assignments from the three Democrats, but a potential expulsion for the three lawmakers could come later this week.

According to Politico, the expulsion of a member from the Tennessee state Capitol is exceedingly rare, only two other House members have ever been ousted from the chamber since the Civil War.

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