FIRST ON FOX: Statue vandalism is being eyed for harsher punishment after a pro-Hamas rally in Washington, D.C., saw statues defaced.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wants to enforce mandatory minimum prison sentences on people who vandalize and deface statues on federal property.
The senator introduced the Saving Treasured Artifacts Through Uniform Enforcement (STATUE) Act on Thursday, which would do just that.
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Sen. Tom Cotton introduced a bill to enforce mandatory minimum sentences for vandals who deface statues on federal land. (Getty Images)
“Any protestor who defaces statues of America’s heroes must face the full extent of the law. As Joe Biden seeks to appease the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party, it’s clear his administration won’t do anything to punish the protestors who defaced the area around the White House recently. The Senate should take up my legislation to punish these pro-Hamas lunatics,” Cotton said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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If passed, the bill would prohibit anyone from willfully injuring or destroying, or attempting “to injure or destroy, a structure, plaque, statue, or other monument on public property.” Anyone convicted of doing so would be subject to a fine of at least $1,000 and imprisoned for at least five years, but no more than 10.
Cotton’s bill comes after a recent rally in the nation’s capital outside the White House, which included pro-Hamas demonstrators who defaced statues. In Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square, protesters vandalized statues as they protested the Biden administration’s policy towards Israel and the war in Gaza.
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Anti-Israel protesters deface a statue in Washington D.C., on June 8, 2024. (FNTV)
Statues of former President Jackson riding a horse and Comte de Rochambeau, who was a commander in the French army and helped America fend off the British in the Revolutionary War, were among the defaced park infrastructure.
Messages scrawled on the statues included, “free Gaza” and “free Palestine,” in addition to “Death to AmeriKKKa” and even statements of support for terrorist group Hamas, such as “Long live Hamas” and “Muslim 4 Hamas.”
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Sen. Tom Cotton suggested the Department of Justice should investigate the rally as it did Jan. 6, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Following the weekend rally, Cotton called on the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation into it in the fashion it did for the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I expect the Department of Justice to use every technique against them that it used against grandmas in MAGA hats on Jan. 6. And if it doesn’t now, it will next year,” he wrote on X.