NRCC head: Pelosi likening opponents to assassins

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is likening opponents to assassins, one top Republican lawmaker claimed Thursday.

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) asserted that Pelosi had used "insulting rhetoric" when expressing a concern that harsh political rhetoric could lead to actual violence.

"No longer content with criticizing concerned citizens for being ‘un-American,’ the Speaker is now likening genuine opposition to assassination," Sessions said in a statement this afternoon. "Such insulting rhetoric not only undermines the credibility of her office, but it underscores the desperate attempt by her party to divert attention away from a failing agenda."

Pelosi drew on her own experience as a San Francisco political activist when San Francisco supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk was murdered.

"I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw this myself in the late '70s in San Francisco, this kind of rhetoric was very frightening and it created a climate in which violence took place," she said.

Sessions took strong exception to Pelosi's words, calling them a "verbal assault on voters."

"Voters are justifiably frustrated with Washington, and the Speaker's verbal assault on voters accomplishes nothing other than furthering her reputation for being wildly out of touch with the American people," he said.