'Here & Now' from the 2024 RNC in Milwaukee: Day Three

Frederica Freyberg:
You’re watching Republican National Convention coverage from Milwaukee. I’m Frederica Freyberg. We’ll stay with News Hour coverage, but we want to check in now with Here & Now senior political reporter Zac Schultz, who comes to us from Milwaukee. And hi, Zac. So a Wisconsin Republican congressman today wanted to talk about his allegations of political violence against him outside the RNC. What can you tell us about this?

Zac Schultz:
Well, this happened yesterday. It involved Congressman Derrick Van Orden, who represents the 3rd, which is the La Crosse western part of the state. He’s in first term, he’s been heavily targeted by Democrats all along, a little bit of a controversial member. He’s had some anger issues with some incidents in his district. Tried to bring a loaded gun onto a flight. He got in trouble for yelling at pages at the Capitol in the last session. So apparently he was in line and was bumped by a member of Code Pink, which is a protest group. Van Orden this morning to the breakfast delegation described this person as “a glory-seeking Hamas slipknot” and words to that effect. This woman was a Palestinian and she says she was actually targeted by Van Orden, but apparently she has been charged with battery to a sitting member of Congress, which is ironic because Van Orden in his description to the delegates said this morning he’s been hit harder by a blast of air from a hairdryer. But this is how he described the incident to the members of Wisconsin’s delegation.

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden:
And we will not tolerate this any longer! We have the same rights as these Code Pink buffoons and everybody else across the board as American citizens, don’t we?

Audience member:
Yes!

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden:
OK, I have called for anybody committing political violence to be prosecuted to the greatest extent of the law.

Frederica Freyberg:
So he certainly is fiery. But moving into another matter, we talked about a shooting yesterday and Columbus, Ohio police did in fact shoot and kill a Milwaukee man armed with a knife who was reportedly living in a tent at King Park. What do you know about the community reaction to that?

Zac Schultz:
Well, there was a vigil held last night and there was a lot of anger in the community because it was supposed to be Milwaukee Police responding to issues this far outside the perimeter. And the question is, would this have been the response if it was a Milwaukee PD involved instead of an out-of-state police department?

Frederica Freyberg:
People are definitely talking about that in the community. So we wind into our final days of this convention, and we do expect, of course, to see most of the delegates in their seats tonight and tomorrow. Zac Schultz, thanks very much. We look forward to talking with you again same time tomorrow night. We will be here tomorrow night with latest updates from the last day of the RNC in Milwaukee. On Friday, join Here & Now at 7 for full coverage of the convention and what it means for Wisconsin.