Rep. Steve King says media, GOP leaders owe him an apology after his comments on rape, incest
WASHINGTON - Rep. Steve King is demanding an apology from the news media and Republican leaders after he remarked last week that humanity might not exist if not for rape and incest.
At a town hall in Buena Vista County on Saturday, the Iowa Republican blamed the controversy on a misquote. He took aim at the Des Moines Register, which broke the news of King's remarks, as well as the Associated Press, which also reported on them.
"Iowans are significantly more positive than they are negative, and they know it's a misquote and they know that the AP has, I'll say, retracted the quote that they initially used because they relied on the Des Moines Register who did the same," King said, according to Des Moines-based station WHO-TV.
"And so, when we have a national, viral attack that comes out on a misquote, and it's absolutely proven, all the folks that did that attack, I think they owe me an apology, including my own leadership," King added.
The Des Moines Register did correct another quote it ran on King's remarks. But the part about rape and incest was reported accurately. The newspaper also published video of King's remarks, which he made last week at an event at the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, Iowa.
"What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled those people out that were products of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" King said. "Considering all the wars and all the rape and pillage that's taken place, and whatever happened to culture after society, I know that I can't certify that I'm not part of a product of that."
King has a long history of making remarks widely viewed as racist, anti-Semitic or insulting to minorities. Over the years, he has claimed that "our civilization" can't be restored with "somebody else's babies," supported a Toronto mayoral candidate considered to be a white nationalist and met with a far-right Austrian group with historical Nazi ties.
Earlier this year, House Republican leaders stripped King of his committee assignments after the New York Times published an interview in which the lawmaker questioned how the terms "white nationalism" and "white supremacy" had become offensive.
After reports of King's comments last week on rape and incest, House Republican leaders as well as King's Democratic and Republican challengers in Iowa's 4th District condemned his remarks.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking Republican in the House, responded to King's comment by declaring in a tweet, "It's time for him to go."
In an interview on Fox News Channel last week, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., also said he had "a great deal of problems" with King's remarks.
"This isn't the first time I've had concerns of what Steve King has said," McCarthy said. "Earlier in this Congress, there are things that Steve King said that I do not believe the party of Lincoln would stand for. And as a united conference, we actually removed Steve King from his committees inside Congress. And I think this just continues to show why that action was taken."