Resurfaced clip: Hillary Clinton also called for cracking down on burning flag

Hillary Clinton Once Advocated for Criminalizing Flag Desecration, Similar to Trump’s Recent Executive Order

As some Democrats mock President Donald Trump for signing an executive order cracking down on burning the American flag, a clip has resurfaced of then-New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton calling for a very similar prohibition against flag desecration.

In a resurfaced clip from 2006, Clinton took to the Senate floor to advocate on behalf of a bill titled the “Flag Protection Act” that she said would make it a crime to desecrate the American flag.

Addressing the Senate president, Clinton said, “I hope, Mr. President, that we can pass a law that criminalizes flag burning and desecration.”

Clinton said, “I agree wholeheartedly that maliciously burning or destroying an American flag is a deeply offensive and despicable act,” adding that it “disrespects our nation, it belittles the sacrifices of our brave veterans, it even sends a message to the soldiers who fight today protecting our freedom that their service is in some way to be disrespected and discounted.”

She drew a comparison to the 2003 Supreme Court case Virginia v. Black that clarified the burning of crosses with intent to intimidate is a crime.

“Now burning a flag to me is also despicable and I believe that there is no denying when we talk about our flag, Americans’ emotions run deep, and we know that when we look at the flag, and it’s deliberately maliciously destroyed that is an intimidating experience in many instances,” she said, adding, “I agree that this flag burning, this desecration, that can happen to our flag, is something that people have a right to ask this body to try to prohibit and prevent.”