Democrats: GOP reaction to Trump tweet about cop shoving protester 'a disgrace'

Senate Democrats called on Republicans to denounce President Trump’s Tuesday morning tweet claiming a video of a police officer pushing a protester to the ground was “a set up.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and several other Republicans declined to comment on the tweet, while others criticized it or said it was part of Trump’s overall Twitter habit.

“That’s a disgrace,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Tuesday. “They can’t even speak out on that?”

Several Republicans criticized the tweet, among them Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, Susan Collins, of Maine, and Mitt Romney, of Utah.

“I saw the tweet,” Romney, an outspoken critic of Trump, told reporters before heading into a GOP luncheon. “It was a shocking thing to say. And I won’t dignify it with any further comment.”

Collins said Trump “should not comment on issues that are before the court.”

Trump tweeted Tuesday that 75-year-old Martin Gugino “fell harder than he was pushed,” after a Buffalo police officer appeared to shove Gugino backward.

The two men were walking toward each other, and Gugino was reaching out his arm toward the officer, lowering to the officer’s duty belt right before the officer pushed him. Gugino stumbled backward, fell down, and hit his head on the concrete.

“Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment,” Trump tweeted.