Republican Virginia Foxx breaks CNN anchor by telling reporter to 'shut up': 'It's anti-democratic'

CNN anchor John King accused the Republican Party of being "anti-democratic" and against free speech on Wednesday because Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) told a reporter to "shut up."

At a press conference where Republicans introduced Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as their newest speaker nominee, ABC News congressional reporter Rachel Scott tried to make the moment about the 2020 election. In a question, Scott accused Johnson of having helped "lead the effort to overturn the 2020 election results." But before she could finish her question, Republican lawmakers jeered over her.

Foxx was one of the Republicans who interrupted Scott. In fact, the longtime lawmaker had zero patience for the question, telling Scott, "Shut up. Shut up!"

According to King, that simple objection is the straw that broke the constitutional camel's back.

Moments before Johnson was elected speaker, King laid into Foxx — and the entire House Republican conference — for not allowing Scott to make a late 2023 development about something that happened nearly three years ago.

"It's anti-democratic — they are anti-democratic. They simply are — that's a fact. And they're anti-free speech. They're anti-questions," King complained.

"They don't like questions that they don't like. They don't want to answer questions that they don't like. Well, sorry. Welcome to America. That's the great charm of the American experiment — that we ask questions, that people get to ask these questions," he added.

The irony of King's accusations — that Republicans are "anti-democratic" and "anti-free speech" — is that Foxx was merely exercising her free speech rights.

In fact, no one's rights were abridged at the press conference; the government did not interfere to prevent Scott from asking her question, and the government did not interfere to prevent Foxx and other Republicans from objecting to the question. All parties involved exercised their constitutional rights.

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