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Veteran Republican strategist Doug Heye said that he and other senior figures in the party deserve to be blames for the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In an interview on MSNBC Tuesday, Heye said that for years strategists such as himself had cast Pelosi as a villain, and ushered in the extreme rhetoric that had swept the GOP.
He discussed a Washington Post op-ed, in which he described how he pushed the slogan "Fire Nancy Pelosi" in 2010, harnessing personal animosity against her to motivate the successful GOP effort to retake the House.
"I think we have original sin here," Heye said, and went on to address how some Republicans at the time promoted racist "birther" conspiracy theories, questioning the citizenship of President Barack Obama.
"Part of that is our language towards Barack Obama, Michelle Obama for that matter as well, and the questioning of citizenship and religion, and so forth. And then also, obviously, with Donald Trump in what alternately culminated in Jan. 6. I think Republicans should be more mindful of that," he said.
I'm scared of what's going to happen next," he said.
Police say David DePape broke into the Pelosi's home in San Francisco on Friday, and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. Prosecutors say they believe the attack was politically motivated, and reports say DePape had posted support for far-right conspiracy theories on a blog.
Some Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have pushed conspiracy theories about the attack, while others, including his son, Donald Trump Jr, have joked about it.
Heye is the former communications director of the RNC, and served in a senior communications role for Eric Cantor, who succeeded Pelosi as House speaker after the 2010 midterms.
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