House Republican Interrupted in Reparations Hearing by Protester Shouting 'You Lie!'

BY REBECCA KLAR
The Hill
06/19/19 02:26 PM EDT

A protestor yelled "you lie" as Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) tried to make the point that Democrats were  historically the party that supported slavery during Wednesday's reparations hearing.

Gohmert said the Democrats make no "reference" of their party's past platform of supporting slavery in the 1800s, as well as no reference to former Democratic presidents that owned slaves.

Gohmert also said that there's no reference to Jim Crow laws, or the role "Democrats played in creating them," in that "pesky 50 year part of the DNC's missing years."

"It is important that we know our history and we not punish people today for the sins of their predecessors in the democratic party," Gohmert said, according to clips of the hearing shared on twitter.

"You lie," said a protestor, identified as Rev. Mark Thompson by the Democratic Coalition on twitter.

President Abraham Lincoln, who led the country's fight to end slavery, was a Republican. The parties shifted key platforms between the 1860s and 1936, when Democrats President Franklin D. Roosevelt won on his New Deal platform in response to the Great Depression.

"I just stated all facts, and again, we have people who are denying history that's not helpful to our discussion," Gohmert said.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties hearing follows a bill from Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) that would form a commission to study whether descendants of slaves should receive reparations.

It is backed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a presidential candidate, authored a companion bill in the Senate.