House Republican’s office acknowledges ‘misspeak’ on Texas murder case

Talking Points Memo on Wednesday published a video in which Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) appears to imply that a man was justified in killing his wife.  

{mosads}”It was simply a misspeak that obviously does not look great,” Sessions’s chief of staff, Caroline Boothe, told The Hill. “However, it does not reflect his actions and his history on this important matter.” 

“Pete was discussing a terrible situation where an individual felt he had been railroaded by a court and then committed a horrific act of violence,” Boothe said. “By no means does Pete condone any act such as this. In fact, Pete met with judges and court officials to encourage them to address the frailties in the system and to do more to prevent this kind of tragic family violence from occurring.” 

Sessions at a July 23 event in Dallas used the example of a man who killed his wife out of frustration to illustrate that the family court system had failed Texans.

“Dallas, a few years ago, went through a number of terrible shootings,” Sessions said during a local GOP event. “One of them was from a big-time guy in Highland Park, who went and killed his wife, just gunned her down. And that was because the judge was unfair, and the woman was unfair. And she demanded something, and he was out. And it was frustration.” 

“So now we go through the court system,” he continued. “And unfortunately lives have to be lost and there has to be tragedy — there now is a better system.”

It is unclear what court case Sessions was referring to, but there were a string of domestic abuse–related murders in Texas in the early 2000s.

Boothe said “this quote does not do any justice and does not represent what [Sessions] has done or what he believes.” 

“He has an extensive history of working with domestic abuse victims,” she said, noting the congressman’s work donating cellphones to domestic abuse shelters and ensuring transitional housing for survivors was not cut in Dallas County. 

“He has a very big track record on helping women, especially in these situations,” she said. 

-Updated 2:42 p.m.