BROOKFIELD, Conn. — Brookfield's First Selectwoman Tara Carr has been in the hot seat after her recent tweets about President Biden.
Lawmakers and gun control advocates said she was threatening the president, but others said her tweets were blown out of proportion.
Three weeks ago, RNC Research on Twitter posted a three-second clip of Vice President Kamala Harris who said, "so we have a lot to be thankful for in our president."
Carr commented below and said, "he's aiding and abetting the enemy. Ready. Aim. Fire. One shot, one kill. That simple."
Carr's tweet response was then met with strong reactions, especially from lawmakers and gun control advocates who were worried she used language associated with gunfire.
State Representative Matt Blumenthal was one of them.
"It seems to be threatening the president and it’s just really completely unacceptable and everyone has to call it out," said Rep. Blumenthal.
Carr's Twitter has been suspended since Monday afternoon.
FOX61 reached out to the Brookfield Republican Town Committee whose vice chairman responded in a Facebook message and said Carr's tweet was taken out of context.
On Tuesday, Carr released this statement:
"Two weeks ago, many Americans, me included, were shocked and critical of President Biden’s failure to act while a Chinese Communist Party balloon sailed over the USA. Replying to a Twitter comment regarding the President’s failure to act to the spy balloon, I urged prompt action to take down the Chinese Communist Party balloon with “one shot, one kill”. As a retired Army officer, I, along with many others across the country, understood that this was a direct invasion of our nation by a foreign power. My position was shared by literally millions of American and military personnel.
Unfortunately, some on the fringe of the political spectrum, who are more interested in engaging in vitriolic statements and fabricating their own truths, rather than intelligent discourse, took these comments out of context and made ridiculous and false assertions that somehow, I was promoting violence against our nation’s President. This is a complete lie. As a retired military officer, I have taken an oath to defend our nation, our constitution and yes, even those with whom I disagree. These individuals are more intent on twisting the meaning of my words, simply to foment hatred and discord against their political opponents during an election year. Most see this group’s actions as shameful, divisive, and destructive, while offering nothing to our political discourse.
Their intent is to spread misinformation, without ever obtaining the facts, so that good, wellmeaning people are being duped into thinking these peddlers of misinformation are somehow onto something. Several fake twitter accounts attempting to attribute statements to me, is proof that they don’t care about the truth, only about the destruction of those that have a different opinion.
The citizens of Brookfield won’t be hoodwinked by those seeking to gain some sort of political advantage by smearing their political opponents and engaging in “smoke and mirror” tactics directed at any town official.
My focus is on the business of Brookfield, that is far more important than engaging with smallminded individuals who would prefer to see us fail, simply to try and win an election."
However, the chairman of Brookfield's Democratic Town Committee said Carr has shown behavior like this in the past on Twitter and emphasized his committee did not stir up this controversy.
"It's not the first time she had tweeted something that somebody might find offensive, so not surprised this one was maybe a little more shocking," said Democratic Chairman Aaron Zimmer.
Carr's tweet spread like wildfire throughout Brookfield. Those who have known her for a long time came to her defense.
"Just baloney. I don’t know another way to put it. It’s not true. It’s completely false. I know her. I know her family. Great person. People in Brookfield love her. She loves Brookfield. She loves this country," said Alan Donnelly of Brookfield's Zoning Board of Appeals.
FOX61 did wish to speak to Carr herself but was told she was on vacation out of state with her family.
Carmen Chau is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at cchau@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter
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