Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana, posted to X, and later deleted, a comment that invoked racist stereotypes about Haitians. In this photo, Higgins speaks during a press conference on the National Defense Authorization Act with members of the House Freedom Caucus on July 14, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
This story originally appeared on Louisiana Illuminator.
Congressman Clay Higgins says he isn’t worried about his colleagues in the House of Representatives casting an official vote to censure him for inflammatory remarks he made about Haitians on social media last month.
The Republican from Lafayette, who’s seeking a fifth term representing Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District in the Nov. 5 election, appeared at a town hall meeting Wednesday and spoke to the Illuminator about the controversy.
He also addressed the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol with event attendees at the Friends Supporting Friends Event Center, attributing the uprising to “weird little groups.”
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Once the House reconvenes after the election, Higgins could face censure over a now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter about Haitian immigrants. Democrats and a few Republicans have criticized the post written on Higgins’ official account, calling his statement racist.
“Lol. These Haitians are wild,” Higgins wrote. “Eating pets, vudu [sic], nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters … but damned if they don’t feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP.
“All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th,” the congressman concluded, noting the day the next U.S. president will be sworn into office.
Leading calls for the censure vote was Congressional Black Caucus chairman Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nevada. The House action doesn’t carry any actual punishment beyond potential public relations stigma.
“I’m not concerned about that,” Higgins told the Illuminator. “The media has attacked me for nine years now. It’s like a feeding frenzy. My life doesn’t revolve around that. Some of my colleagues have been out of line. I know the man I am and the people I serve. I’m not saying an unkind word about anybody. I don’t have malice in my heart about that.”
Higgins, a former law enforcement officer, has repeatedly refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, referring to Donald Trump as “rPOTUS,” short for the real President of the United States, on social media.
At the Jennings town hall, he discussed what he described as the “compromised election cycle of November 2020.”
“We may never know the full truth of what happened leading up to Election Day in 2020 in the wee hours of the morning on the day following Election Day in six of our sovereign states,” he said. “But a reasonable man can look at what happened and come to a very sober conclusion that it appeared to be coordinated election corruption.”
Higgins was among the Republicans who voted against certifying the election results in favor of Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021 — a process that was delayed when Trump supporters breached Capitol security in an effort to thwart the certification vote.
In the midst of the mayhem, Higgins did call on protestors to end their assault on Capitol.
“Violence and lawlessness are unacceptable. This must end now. This is not American,” Higgins said on Twitter.
Higgins told the audience in Jennings that Trump’s rally at the White House Ellipse on Jan. 6 was “very emotionally uplifting and very patriotic, with people singing patriotic songs, holding hands, hugging, and crying.”
As the rally dispersed, many of its attendees joined those converging on the Capitol.
“Then you had these weird little groups, guys in tactical gear saying some outrageous things,” Higgins said. “They were not Three Percenters, and they were not Oath Keepers. They were not some of those guys. They were like weird little groups. There were camera crews that seemed to be working with those groups.”
The Three Percenters are an anti-government and gun rights group that takes its name from the questionable claim that members of the Continental Army accounted for only 3% of the 13 colonies’ population in the American Revolution. Higgins has referenced the Three Percenters in his appeals to gain support for his conservative views, even though the group has been linked to violent attacks and white supremacy. Members of the Three Percenters were convicted for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riots, and their leadership was dismantled afterward.
Leaders of the Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were convicted for seditious conspiracy for their actions before and on Jan. 6. The group is a quasi-militia that aims to bring down a purported shadow government.
Without providing supporting evidence, Higgins continues to maintain federal law enforcement was involved in the Jan. 6 insurgency attempt at the Capitol. There were two white buses “filled with FBI agents, bottom line,” on the National Mall that day, he told the Jennings crowd.
“There were about 60 on those two buses,” Higgins said. “But there were a couple hundred of assets, human assets. To say they were FBI agents, the media will grab that. Let’s not get buried in the details.”
The congressman also made vague statements regarding a “a confidential informant, a field agent, a contracted agent, or a full-time FBI agent, talking about the guys that were working for the FBI that day.”
“I have a ton of evidence about that, but the media, oh the media, sometimes they’re paid to hate me,” Higgins added.
Higgins is heavily favored to win reelection in the 3rd District, which stretches from southwest Louisiana to the bayou parishes. He faces two Democrats — Priscilla Gonzales of Lafayette and Sadi Summerlin of Westlake — a fellow Republican Xan John of Lafayette.
Congress returns from its election season recess Nov. 12.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.
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