House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., deleted a tweet targeting a trio of Democratic megadonors of Jewish descent days before a gunman on Saturday opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue.
"We cannot allow Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg to BUY this election! Get out and vote Republican November 6th," McCarthy wrote on Tuesday before taking the tweet down on Wednesday. McCarthy's message also shared content from the GOP's "Hold the Majority" Twitter account, which has been deleted as well.
McCarthy's post was removed after George Soros, a billionaire investor who donates to left-learning causes and candidates, was sent the first of about a dozen pipe bombs sent to prominent Democrats last week. The suspected mailer of these devices, Cesar Sayoc, 56, has been detained and faces charges for federal crimes.
Soros and Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who is also giving money to Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, were born into Jewish families. The father of Tom Steyer, a wealthy hedge fund manager pushing for President Trump's impeachment, is Jewish.
Critics, such as the Anti-Defamation League, have pinned some of the blame on President Trump and his allies for encouraging dangerous behavior in their political rhetoric after Robert Bowers, 46, allegedly walked into Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue Saturday morning and shot people inside as he remarked about mass-killing Jews. At least 11 worshipers died and another six, including four police officers, were injured in the attack.
"We are seeing an environment in which anti-Semitism has moved from the margins into the mainstream as political candidates and people in public life now literally repeat the rhetoric of white supremacists," Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL's CEO and national director, said Sunday during an interview with NBC News.
Matt Sparks, McCarthy's communications director, sent CNN Sunday the same statement released to the Washington Post last week asserting that the California Republican "has and will always condemn in the strongest possible way violence or any acts of attempted violence."
"Understanding the particular sensitivity of the past 24 hours in the political climate today that has led to specific threats on both sides of the aisle, we will redouble our focus on our agenda of results," Sparks wrote.
Steyer, like Soros, was sent a package intercepted by authorities that contained a potentially explosive device.
He addressed McCarthy's tweet Sunday in an appearance on CNN, calling it "a straight-up anti-Semitic move."
"I think that that is a classic attempt to separate Americans," Steyer said. "I think that absolutely falls into the category of what I'm describing as political violence. And I believe that what we are looking for in America is something completely different from that."