Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder used violent anti-GOP rhetoric in a campaign stop in Wisconsin Thursday, challenging Republicans to a knife fight.

Holder couched his violence in passive-aggressive legalese, saying, “We have to be ready to, you know, not do anything inappropriate, not do anything improper, certainly not do anything unlawful. But to the extent that they want to have a fight, let’s do it. You want to rumble, let’s rumble. You want to have a knife fight, we’re gonna do it.”

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, screen image.

Holder’s statement was reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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Heading to the fall elections, Holder said Democrats need to be more disciplined and focused to match Republicans. “We have to be ready to, you know, not do anything inappropriate, not do anything improper, certainly not do anything unlawful,” he said. “But to the extent that they want to have a fight, let’s do it. You want to rumble, let’s rumble. You want to have a knife fight, we’re gonna do it.”

Holder was in Milwaukee as part of a two-day campaign swing though Wisconsin for Supreme Court candidate Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet for the April 3 election against the Republican supported candidate, Sauk County Circuit Judge Michael Screnock. The Wisconsin Supreme Court election is non-partisan but is heavily politicized.

In 2008, Holder’s boss Barack Obama said in his first presidential campaign at a stop in Philadelphia, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”

A Democrat gunman, James Hodgkinson, waged a mass shooting attack on Republican congressmen last year, wounding House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Capitol Police officer Chrystal Griner, congressional aide Zack and lobbyist Barth Matt Mika.

Holder’s political group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, is spending a reported $140,000 in digital advertising for Dallet and is also suing Gov. Scott Walker for not holding special elections to fill two vacant state Legislature seats.

Holder served as attorney general from 2009 to 2015 and has the distinction of being the first cabinet member in history to be held in contempt of Congress.

Holder also lashed out at President Trump after AG Sessions fired McCabe in a midnight tweet.