A marijuana tax lawyer who is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik in New York’s 21st Congressional District has floated the idea of ”re-education camps” for former President Donald Trump’s “MAGA” supporters after the November election. Fox News reported.
Democratic Rep. Paula Collins made the remarks during a town hall meeting held on Zoom this week, the cable news network reported. audio You can read her comments here.
“This is President Trump, Elise Stefanik and the voters of the Upstate. [New York] And across America, we will win the vote for Democrats in November.”
“Even if there is a resounding blue wave, as many of us would like, that gets us through this MAGA nightmare and basically re-educates us and then puts everything back together, which is, uh, [laughs] “Re-education camps,” Collins said at the town hall. “We don’t really want to call it that. We can find another way to call it.”
Collins explained her comments in an email to Fox News Digital: “Currently, we have lawmakers, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, who misquote and misinterpret the law. Even in a MAGA defeat, we need to address widespread civics education, which voters on both sides of the aisle acknowledge has lagged in recent years.”
Collins added, “The goal is to help the public understand the process by which state courts handle cases compared to the federal circuit courts,” Fox News reported.
“Rep. Elise Stefanik doesn’t really understand the structure of the courts in her home state of New York,” Collins told the cable news network.
Fox News further reported that Collins emphasized that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s recent lawsuit against President Trump is a “state issue, not a federal issue,” adding that Stefanik’s “protest speaks to a lack of basic civics education and a fundamental lack of respect for the state supreme court system in her home state of New York.”
“Similarly, many voters have a misconception or disregard for basic justice systems that underscores the need for civics education,” she told the cable news network.
Alex DeGrasse, a senior adviser to Stefanik, strongly disputed Collins’ comments.
“This New York City radical democratic socialist, who is literally renting a bed and breakfast room in NY21, was recorded talking about wanting to force Trump supporters into ‘re-education camps,'” DeGrasse told Fox News, adding, “This is President Trump, Elise Stefanik and upstate New York voters… [New York] And across America, we will win the vote for Democrats in November.”
Collins said she had been living full-time in New York City until this spring, the cable news network reported, adding that campaign documents show she is based in New York City at her law firm, the Paula Collins Law Firm. Fox News added that Collins rents a room in a rental home in Canton, New York, to claim she is a resident of the 21st District.
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