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This congressman avoids criticism by blocking voters on Facebook

Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar suggested the participants in the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in August may have been organized by an “Obama sympathizer” and funded by George Soros in an interview about one of his constituents who is suing him...

After President Trump and several other Washington lawmakers were sued for blocking constituents on Twitter, some might have thought it would discourage similar behavior by elected officials. But not Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AR) of Arizona’s 4rth District.

J’aime Morgaine, an army veteran from Kingman, realized she was being blocked on Rep. Gosar’s Facebook page in February, after she posted critical comments, even though the congressman uses his page to conduct town halls and regularly interacts with his constituents there.

After months of emails requesting their justification without reply, Morgaine began leaving physical blocks at his Congressional office. Over the following months, Gosar and Morgaine traded dueling op-eds in their local newspapers. Morgaine said Gosar betrayed the Constitution, while Gosar disparaged those he blocked as “hateful idiots.” For Morgaine, the Facebook block signaled a direct violation of her First Amendment rights. For the congressman the issue is simple: it’s his Facebook, he can block whoever he likes.

Elle Reeve met with both Gosar and Morgaine to hear their sides of their story.

This segment originally aired Oct. 6, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.