New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur said California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff “won’t even get on the phone” with him after Schiff accused MacArthur of calling his Korean-American opponent “not one of us.”
MacArthur has two children adopted from South Korea.
“Adam Schiff thinks he’ll get power by stoking fear, division and anger in this country,” MacArthur told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “His absurd and false tweet that I made a racist comment about my Korean-American opponent overlooks one sort of obvious and for him, rather inconvenient, truth. I’m the father of two children whom Debbie and I adopted from South Korea as babies. I am now the proud ‘Papa’ of my first Korean-American granddaughter.”
MacArthur had choice words for Schiff, who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
“Adam Schiff, like my opponent and so many others in the angry resistance, is a keyboard warrior,” MacArthur told TheDCNF. “He won’t even get on the phone with me to discuss the disgusting, divisive attack he made against me on the internet.”
Schiff’s tweet Thursday mentioned multiple Republicans.
“Rep. MacArthur says his Korean American opponent is ‘not one of us,'” Schiff wrote on Twitter. “Rep. Hunter attacks his challenger for being a Muslim terrorist. And Rep. King endorses an avowed white supremacist and anti-Semite. The dog whistles of bigotry have been put away. Now they’re using trumpets.”
Rep. MacArthur says his Korean American opponent is “not one of us.” Rep. Hunter attacks his challenger for being a Muslim terrorist. And Rep. King endorses an avowed white supremacist and anti-Semite.
The dog whistles of bigotry have been put away.
Now they’re using trumpets.
— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) October 18, 2018
The tweet was still up as of Friday afternoon after MacArthur told Schiff he should apologize to MacArthur’s children.
US Representative Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) speaks to constituents during a town hall meeting in Willingboro, New Jersey on May 10, 2017.
MacArthur wrote the amendment to the American Health Care Act that revived the failed bill, delivering a legislative victory for US President Donald Trump. DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images
“Hey Adam Schiff – First, I didn’t say that,” MacArthur wrote on Twitter Thursday. “Second, you should have done some research before you made such a disgustingly false claim. I have 2 adopted children from South Korea. I don’t want your apology, but you sure can apologize to my children.” (RELATED: McConnell Breaks With GOP Midterm Rhetoric To Talk Obamacare Repeal)
Hey @AdamSchiff – First, I didn’t say that. Second, you should have done some research before you made such a disgustingly false claim. I have 2 adopted children from South Korea. I don’t want your apology, but you sure can apologize to my children. pic.twitter.com/o5TDFq4a7o
— Tom MacArthur (@tmac4congress) October 18, 2018
MacArthur’s race against Democratic challenger Andrew Kim is ranked as a toss-up by Real Clear Politics. Schiff is running for reelection in California’s 28th district, which the Cook Political Report rates as solidly Democratic.
TheDCNF reached out to Schiff for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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