Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is now facing calls to resign over a series of controversial comments for the second time since January.
King set off a firestorm yet again on Wednesday after wondering out loud at an event whether humanity would exist without rape and incest.
"What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest?" King asked while defending abortion restrictions that do not provide exceptions for rape or incest, the Des Moines Register reports. "Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?"
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King had already received widespread condemnation earlier this year after asking in an interview why "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" are "offensive" terms, which prompted him to be stripped of his committee assignments as Republicans, including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), said he should leave office. He did not do so and later claimed the quote was taken out of context.
Now, King is facing calls to step aside once more, including from 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn), reports NBC News.
"Crediting rape and incest throughout history to further his political agenda is vile," Booker said in a statement. Klobuchar on Twitter wrote that "it's time for him to go."
Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, also told NBC that King's comments were "extremely disturbing" and that "I would think anybody who had said something that extreme would resign," but since "I doubt that he'll actually do it ... we're just going to have to beat him the old-fashioned way."
King as he sparked this new controversy also spoke about the earlier one on Wednesday, saying there was originally a plan for Trump to distance himself but the white supremacy comments but that now, there's "no signal from Donald Trump that he's anything other than supportive of me."
