By An unidentified man sharing an elevator with Representative Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, attacked her in her apartment building Thursday morning, according to a statement from the congresswoman’s chief of staff.
Fox News reports, “This morning around 7:15 a.m., Rep. Craig was assaulted in the elevator of her apartment building in Washington, D.C.,” Coe said in a statement. “Rep. Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically okay.”
“Rep. Craig is grateful to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department for their quick response and asks for privacy at this time,” Coe said.
According to a police report obtained by Fox News Digital, Craig told police that she saw the male suspect “acting erratic” in the lobby of the building, “as if he was under the influence” of “an unknown substance.” Craig then said, “Good morning,” to the man before she went into the elevator, according to the report.
The report said the suspect also entered the elevator and then started doing pushups before punching Craig “on the chin area of her face” and grabbing her by the neck. She then threw her hot coffee at the suspect and escaped before officers arrived, the report said.
Craig, 50, is serving her third term in Congress.
The attack on a member of Congress comes as crime has dramatically risen over the past few years in Washington, DC. Despite that, The DC Council overrode the mayor’s veto of a law to lessen the punishment for violent offenses in the nation’s capital.
Local news reported, “The new criminal code would eliminate most mandatory minimum sentences, reduce mandatory maximum penalties and allow jury trials for misdemeanors.
D.C.’s criminal code hasn’t been overhauled in more than 100 years, and after 16 years of studies and proposals, the Council unanimously approved the new criminal code in November.
But Bowser vetoed the measure in January after expressing concerns about reducing penalties for certain crimes and said it would drastically increase the burden on the court system.”
One of the changes drops minimums sentencing for carjackings, like the one in which two teenagers killed an Uber Eats driver last year. D.C. averaged more than one carjacking a day in 2022.
The laws now come to Congress, which has oversight of the nation’s capital and Republicans are looking to approve measures that will make Washington less safe.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has vowed to stop soft-on-crime liberals from destroying the nation’s capital.
A DC NBC affiliate wrote, “Compared to this time in 2022, thefts from cars are up 30%, while thefts of cars are up 113%, numbers from D.C. police show. Robberies have increased by 57%, and overall property crime — which includes offenses such as burglary, theft and arson — are up 42% over this time in 2022.”
“The attack on Craig comes amid heightened security measures at the Capitol. The area around the Capitol complex was secured with fences and additional officers this week for President Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, under advice from the Capitol Police board. However, while members of congressional leadership receive a security detail, those not in leadership are not assigned individual police protection,” according to The Washington Post.
“Just last year, the Capitol Police investigated 7,501 threats against members of Congress. While that number represented a decrease from threats compared with 2020 and 2021, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said threats against lawmakers “are still too high.”
Last October, in a politically motivated incident, a man attacked then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul with a hammer in the Pelosis’ San Francisco home.”
Craig’s attack has been said to be unrelated to politics, outside of the fact that her position in Congress forces her to spend time in crime-ridden D.C.
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