Senator Charles Grassley (R) says any hate crime is unjustified, in response to the murders of eight people including six Asian women at Atlanta-area spas last week.

Grassley tells KCII that Americans shouldn’t be discriminating against anyone, with the ultimate example being murder, “I would consider Asian Americans a dramatic contribution to American society. They’re very capable people, they lead in a lot of areas. And I’ve even got a daughter-in-law of I think 45 years, and there’s so much I’ve learned from her about family and stuff like that and the extent to which this is racism, racism is wrong, period.”

Grassley’s comments come after President Joe Biden condemned rising hate crimes against Asian Americans last week, and that Asian Americans have been attacked, blamed, scapegoated, and harassed since the COVID-19 pandemic began more than a year ago. Democratic lawmakers have recently reintroduced the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which would support the designation of an officer or employee at the Justice Department that would help expedite the review of hate crimes reported during the pandemic.