DOJ Official Dodges Questions On Trump’s Role In Hate Crime Surge

[CrusaderFrank]

A senior Justice Department official wouldn’t say whether President Donald Trump shouldered any blame for the recent alarming rise in religious hate crimes, even as Democratic senators prodded and pushed him to do so.

Eric Treene, special counsel for religious discrimination in the department’s civil rights division, repeatedly dodged questions during a Senate judiciary hearing.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) grew especially impatient with Treene’s testimony.

Franken acknowledged that the president has condemned hate on two occasions. But he added that the White House, “either through missteps or associations with controversial figures ... fails to speak clearly in opposition to bias and hate. Far too often the White House sends mixed messages.”

Hate crimes rose 7 percent across the U.S. in 2015, according to the latest available FBI data. Tuesday’s hearing was convened to address a startling rise in religious hate crimes, namely those targeting Jews, Muslims and people perceived to be Muslim.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, hate incidents targeting Jews increased by 33 percent in 2016 compared to the year before. The group also says anti-Semitic hate incidents rose 86 percent in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same quarter in 2016.

There was a 67 percent rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2015, according to the FBI. HuffPost tracked about 400 incidents of anti-Muslim hate in 2016, the same year a Southern Poverty Law Center report said the number of anti-Muslim hate groups in the U.S. tripled.

“It’s no accident that there is a rise in hate crimes because we’re in an environment where the president targets Muslims with his language,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said during Tuesday’s hearing.

There was an 87.5 percent increase in hate crimes against Muslims in the days directly following Trump’s initial proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

About a year later, the SPLC tracked over 1,000 bias incidents in the month after Trump won the presidential election. A perpetrator invoked Trump, his campaign slogans or his remarks about sexual assault in 37 percent of those incidents.

HuffPost also documented at least 13 times Trump supporters harassed, attacked or plotted to kill Muslims.

There's no question that having Trump in office is a direct cause of the rise in hate crimes and violence from the right. But how far will right wing violence escalate? What exactly do these pieces of shit want?

DOJ Official Dodges Questions On Trump's Role In Hate Crime Surge | HuffPost

Surge in hate crimes? You mean the hate crimes by left wing bernie sanders supporters against Conservatives and Trump supporters...? You mean those?

Or the fake hate crimes that the left keeps committing to blame on Trump? Do you mean those?

No, I mean the surge in hate crimes by right wing pieces of shit. Those documented hate crimes coinciding with Trump's election.

Take a nap, Jake

 

[SYTFE]

A senior Justice Department official wouldn’t say whether President Donald Trump shouldered any blame for the recent alarming rise in religious hate crimes, even as Democratic senators prodded and pushed him to do so.

Eric Treene, special counsel for religious discrimination in the department’s civil rights division, repeatedly dodged questions during a Senate judiciary hearing.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) grew especially impatient with Treene’s testimony.

Franken acknowledged that the president has condemned hate on two occasions. But he added that the White House, “either through missteps or associations with controversial figures ... fails to speak clearly in opposition to bias and hate. Far too often the White House sends mixed messages.”

Hate crimes rose 7 percent across the U.S. in 2015, according to the latest available FBI data. Tuesday’s hearing was convened to address a startling rise in religious hate crimes, namely those targeting Jews, Muslims and people perceived to be Muslim.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, hate incidents targeting Jews increased by 33 percent in 2016 compared to the year before. The group also says anti-Semitic hate incidents rose 86 percent in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same quarter in 2016.

There was a 67 percent rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2015, according to the FBI. HuffPost tracked about 400 incidents of anti-Muslim hate in 2016, the same year a Southern Poverty Law Center report said the number of anti-Muslim hate groups in the U.S. tripled.

“It’s no accident that there is a rise in hate crimes because we’re in an environment where the president targets Muslims with his language,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said during Tuesday’s hearing.

There was an 87.5 percent increase in hate crimes against Muslims in the days directly following Trump’s initial proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

About a year later, the SPLC tracked over 1,000 bias incidents in the month after Trump won the presidential election. A perpetrator invoked Trump, his campaign slogans or his remarks about sexual assault in 37 percent of those incidents.

HuffPost also documented at least 13 times Trump supporters harassed, attacked or plotted to kill Muslims.

There's no question that having Trump in office is a direct cause of the rise in hate crimes and violence from the right. But how far will right wing violence escalate? What exactly do these pieces of shit want?

DOJ Official Dodges Questions On Trump's Role In Hate Crime Surge | HuffPost

Surge in hate crimes? You mean the hate crimes by left wing bernie sanders supporters against Conservatives and Trump supporters...? You mean those?

Or the fake hate crimes that the left keeps committing to blame on Trump? Do you mean those?

No, I mean the surge in hate crimes by right wing pieces of shit. Those documented hate crimes coinciding with Trump's election.

Take a nap, Jake

Pardon?