Mucarsel-Powell sets off Twitter fight after comparing Portland protests to Venezuela

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Miami Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell set off a Twitter war of words when she criticized Attorney General William Barr’s handling of ongoing protests in Portland and compared the actions of federal agents there to violent crackdowns in Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela.

“Look at these videos for one second,” Mucarsel-Powell said to Barr, referring to a video of protests from both Venezuela and Portland. “We have seen violence in Venezuela at the hands of Maduro. Firing tear gas at protesters and using brutal tactics to crush demonstrations. That’s what we see from dictators on both the left and the right. But it’s hard to distinguish those photos from the events and what we’ve seen by U.S. federal police in Portland tear gassing and breaking the bones of a peacefully protesting U.S. Army veteran. Very similar.”

Miami Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who was not at the hearing, quickly responded.

“I am shocked that she is unable to distinguish between the actions of the honorable men and women in law enforcement who risk their lives to defend the rule of law, and Maduro’s thugs who oppress, torture, and kill on behalf of a murderous, anti-American dictatorship,” Diaz-Balart tweeted. “Mucarsel-Powell should apologize immediately for her disgraceful insults to those who risk their lives to secure the rights and freedoms that we cherish, and who serve to protect the lives and property of Americans.”

Mucarsel-Powell, the first member of Congress born in South America, tweeted back with a video of Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, asking House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler during the hearing whether the video was shot in the U.S. or Venezuela.

“I just want a clarification,” Jordan said.

On the video, Nadler told him the video depicted both places — which was “precisely the point.”

“Um, actually Mario Diaz-Balart, it was your colleague Jim Jordan who found it hard to distinguish between Trump’s America and Latin America,” Mucarsel-Powell tweeted. “And that was the point. Troll elsewhere.”

The comparison by Mucarsel-Powell came near the end of a five-hour hearing in which members of the Judiciary Committee questioned Barr on the protests and other Trump administration policies.

But the Venezuela back-and-forth between Mucarsel-Powell and Diaz-Balart is likely a glimpse of the future as Mucarsel-Powell fights to keep her congressional seat in November, when she will likely face Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

The 26th Congressional District, which has changed party hands three times in recent years, stretches from Miami to Key West and includes most of Miami’s western suburbs and South Miami-Dade County. The first publicly released poll in the race from a Republican group on Monday showed Gimenez leading Mucarsel-Powell, though Mucarsel-Powell maintains an advantage in fundraising.

Republicans have repeatedly argued that Democrats, including Mucarsel-Powell, support socialism. But Mucarsel-Powell opposed statements by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders when the former presidential candidate said, “We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba, but, you know, it’s simply unfair to say everything is bad.”

Diaz-Balart, the only Republican who represents Miami-Dade County in the U.S. House, is assured of another term in Congress after no one filed to run against him in 2020.

This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 7:22 PM.