Gohmert wants Feds to use RICO against BLM protestors

Congressman Louie Gohmert is a Mount Pleasant native and a member of the Mount Pleasant High School Class of 1972.

On Thursday, June 25, Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Tyler) issued a newsletter to his constituents through his congressional office calling upon the U.S. Department of Justice to use the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to prosecute Black Lives Matter protesters in American cities, specifically citing the vandalism of racist Confederate monuments as a reason to invoke the use of RICO.

The newsletter was distributed by e-mail to Gohmert's constituents. In it he writes:

“This nation has never been perfect and even embraced the atrocity of slavery, but it has continued to improve, sometimes dramatically, throughout our history, and has continued to sacrifice like no other nation to liberate others in the world.

“Now, however, there are those who want to destroy the only form of government that allows the kind of self-improvement we have made. Many have peacefully protested for good reason, but those who have taken the injustice sparks and fanned them into the burning our country need to answer for their crimes.

"There are those who had organized, raised money from unknown sources in order to take advantage of an injustice and use it to create a new Bolshevik or Marxist revolution. That would lead us into an Orwellian, totalitarian government where God is denied, except the god of a dictatorial government.

“While many of the leftist city and state leaders across our country sit on the sidelines watching our cities burn and our nation’s historical monuments and statues being destroyed by radical Marxist mobs, the time has come to take bold action in prosecuting the violent agitators who have stoked the mayhem. Innocent lives have been lost, minority businesses and livelihoods have been destroyed, and American history is being erased and rewritten in the manner of Stalin and Mao.

“The enemies of self-government and friends of anarchy are purpose-driven to accumulate their own power in the chaos. These well-organized, well-funded violent fringe leaders harbor utter contempt for our country’s traditional values, particularly our belief in God, freedom, and our Constitution.

“The time has come for the Department of Justice to prosecute the leaders of this national crime wave under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act for their coordinated efforts to cause destruction and chaos through all violent means at their disposal, including looting, arson, assault, vandalism, and even murder.

“Our nation and our competent leaders must fulfill their primary duty to protect this nation and to ensure that swift justice is served upon all who seek to destroy these United States from within.”