White House slams NJ congresswoman’s comments. Online reaction: ‘Arrest her’

🔺NJ Democrats rally in D.C.
🔺 Critics call comments 'insurrection'
🔺 Musk's Treasury actions scrutinized

Two weeks into the new term of President Donald Trump, some New Jersey lawmakers are raising the alarm on multi-billionaire Elon Musk's unprecedented access to government operations.

Now U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J. 10th District, is facing backlash from conservative social media and the White House, which described her comments during a protest on Tuesday as a "sick threat."

McIver and other elected Democrats tried to enter the U.S. Department of Treasury in Washington, D.C., to carry out congressional oversight duties but were denied entry.

“We will not take this. We will fight back,” McIver said, surrounded by throngs of protesters, who joined in chanting "Let us in!"

A statement from the White House on Wednesday said McIver "unleashed another despicable call for violence as she declared, 'Shut down the city! We are at war!'"

McIver, 38, is the first Black woman to represent her congressional district and is the state's youngest-ever member of Congress.

She shared video clips to Facebook and X, which sparked lots of criticism from conservative accounts saying that her fiery speech amounted to insurrection.

"This sounds like a call for insurrection to me," U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said, prompting an answer from the freshman Democrat.

Conservative trolling account Libs of TikTok shared video to Musk-owned X, saying "Holy crap! Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver just declared war on America. Arrest her."  

Many comments on the Greene and Libs of TikTok posts mocked the New Jersey legislator for her physical appearance, some calling the Black woman a "DEI" hire.

U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez, D-N.J. 8th District, shared photos from the rally, writing on X: "Nobody elected Elon Musk yet Donald Trump has handed him the keys to the federal government."

As appointed head of the new Department of Government Efficiency team, Musk has been given "read-only" access to the Treasury Department's federal payment system, Treasury officials said on Tuesday.

Treasury official Jonathan Blum said that a review of the Fiscal Service payment system has not caused "payments for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare to be delayed or re-routed," Bloomberg and CBS News reported.

Meanwhile, conservatives calling Tuesday's rally an "insurrection" celebrated the recent pardons of 1,500 individuals, convicted for breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2001.

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