Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said Friday that more military veterans ought to run for office in light of alleged violent conduct from a newly elected Republican congressman.
Greg Gianforte, who won election to Montana's open House seat Thursday night, is accused of assaulting a reporter who asked him a question about the Republican healthcare bill.
"If you can't handle tough questions from a reporter, then you're going to a have a real tough time handling questions from constituents," Moulton said on CNN's "New Day."
"His job is to be an elected representative in our democracy, and there is no more important bedrock principal in democracy than a free press."
Moulton, a veteran of Iraq and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, suggested that both Democrats and Republicans make more of an effort to recruit veterans as candidates, since they "put country first over politics" and would behave better.
"People who have faced much tougher challenges in their lives than answering a tough question from a reporter," he added.
In April, Moulton told Politico that Democrats had found 22 veterans who were willing or open to running for office.
"I don't think you have to be a veteran to run for office, but when you're looking for a group of people who might be able to rise above the bitter partisan gridlock, veterans are a good place to look," he said.
"Washington seems like a dirty place. But so was Afghanistan. And so was Iraq. And we're going to clean it up," Moulton said he would tell them.
"Donald Trump's policies are terrible for our national security — what group of people better to point that out than a group of Democratic veterans?"
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