The Michigan House canceled Tuesday's voting session after learning Rudy Guiliani tested postive for COVID 19.
Guiliani visited Lansing last week Wednesday for a lengthy committee meeting investigating alleged election irregularities. He did not wear a mask, and House Speaker Lee Chatfield says multiple representatives have asked for time to get tested before returning to session.
That meeting put Michigan in the national spotlight for multiple reasons. Democratic State Representative Darrin Camilleri says it's not a good thing.
“For us, that means that we are doing such a bad job as a legislature, that people are making fun of it across the country,” Camilleri said.
The House Oversight Committee Meeting was parodied on Saturday Night Live, and was supposed to address alleged voter fraud. Camilleri, who was there, says all they heard was more unproven claims.
“There was no reason to have this hearing. Every piece of information that have brought before our committee has been disproven. It is all false,” Camilleri said.
Now, with Guiliani testing positive for COVID-19, Camilleri says it was a dangerous meeting for both our democracy and the health of everyone in the room. Camilleri took a COVID test, which came back negative. He says he wishes the test was a requirement.
“It is shameful, that we are not taking this more seriously. And not requiring that every person in that committee room go get tested, and have a negative test before they return back to work,” Camilleri said.
He says he's also gotten death threats over the phone and through email. He's not the only state rep who's gotten threatened, either. Similar messages were sent to state representative and fellow democrat Cynthia Johnson, also a member of the House Oversight Committee. One message to Johnson went as far as to call for her to be lynched, and some messages were racist.
Camilleri says this is more than just a disappointment.
“It’s really sad and pathetic that this is what our democracy has boiled down too,” Camilleri said.
