Republican defends sending grenades to colleagues as a 'simple gift'

GOP Rep. Cory Mills scoffed at the outrage over his 'simple gift' of an inert grenade to fellow House members Friday morning. 

A photograph obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com showed the Florida veteran had handed out the grenades made in his state emblazoned with the symbol of the GOP - an elephant. 

'I am honored to be a part of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees,' Mills wrote in a letter accompanying the trinket bomb. 'In that spirit, it is my pleasure to give you a 40mm grenade, made for a MK19 grenade launcher. These are manufactured in the Sunshine State and first developed in the Vietnam War.' 

A disclaimer at the bottom of the letter confirmed the grenades would not explode.  Rep. Cort

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Florida) explains it is 'customary' for lawmakers to pass around gifts from their home state at the start of the new Congress

Mills said of the Democratic outrage the gift had stirred up: 'If they would get this upset about our borders, or the sexualization our children or things like that, as opposed to a simple gift, that would be really, really nice for once.'

'I think that what they're really upset about is that didn't actually give them one of these gifts,' he added.  

Mills to Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo it was 'customary' for lawmakers to pass around gifts from their home state at the start of the new Congress.

Rep. Ted Lieu of California, also a veteran and vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, responded to a tweet of the grenade: 'I am retweeting this action by MAGA Republican [Mills] for your information and without comment.'

Mills said the inert grenade had been cleared by Capitol Police and cleared by the bomb squad.

'It's clearly nothing more than a paperweight,' Mills said. 'But you've got people like Ted Lieu and [Rep. Eric] Swalwell who are melting down over this.'

Mills won his seat in Florida's 7th District in November, flipping the seat formerly held by Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a member of the subcommittee that investigated the Jan. 6 riots.

Trump-backed Mills has said he does not view President Biden as the legitimate victor in the 2020 election. An Army veteran and defense contractor by trade, Mills touted during his campaign that his company 'sold tear gas used on Black Lives Matter protesters.'