Michigan AG Dana Nessel Incorrectly Suggests ‘White Supremacy’ Behind Texas Synagogue Hostage Crisis
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Saturday suggested that White supremacy might have been behind the attack on the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue.
Nessel was already scheduled to speak with MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian on another subject, but due to the breaking news, the anchor interviewed the AG on the subject of the attack, which at the time was still a developing story.
Vossoughian asked the attorney general about what were her “biggest concerns” watching the news unfold, and Nessel responded by speculating about it being a domestic terror incident, possibly by someone affiliated with or influenced by extremist White supremacist groups or rhetoric, including from some of “our nation’s leaders,” and enabled by lack of strict gun control.
Shortly after the interview, while talking to the network’s reporters Vossoughian was far more strict on the subject of wild speculation, as seen in the second clip below.
“Well, my biggest concern hearing that it’s at a synagogue is that this is someone who’s intent on committing hate crimes in an act of domestic terrorism, and it’s not just a random person who wandered into a synagogue,” said Nessel in answer to the first question. “Now we don’t know that for certain, but we have seen an incredible rise in rhetoric that is anti-Semitic being trafficked all around the country.”
Nessel said her state’s hate crimes and domestic terrorism unit exists because of an “exponential rise in hate crimes and an exponential rise in the formation and the membership of these extremist organizations, many of which are White supremacy organizations, and they traffic in hatred against Jews and other minorities.”
“So if it does turn out that that is the motivating factor here, it would hardly be a surprise,” she added.
On the subject of acting against domestic terrorism, Nessel said that extremist groups need to be more closely monitored, but that many perpetrators are lone wolves who “become self-radicalized online” and have access to an “endless supply” of “assault weapons, of multiple types of magazines there that are involved, an enormous amount of ammunition.”
When Vossoughian asked whether the country was at a point where armed security would be commonplace at religious institutions, Nessel replied that “it’s a necessary evil.”
“I mean, if we are going to hear the kind of angry rhetoric, rhetoric that is racist or anti-Semitic in nature that we hear, frankly, from many of our nation’s leaders, and if we’re going to create such easy access to very dangerous firearms, then yeah, for, you know, for religious organizations that want to meet in person. I think unfortunately, that’s what you’re going to see,” she said.
The Washington Free Beacon noted that, at the time of the interview, it had already been reported that the hostage-taker’s demand was for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, also known as “Lady al Qaeda.”
The subject of what could be heard on the audio from the synagogue’s livestream had already come up on MSNBC, and it came up again just a few minutes after the interview with AG Nessel.
In that instance, Vossoughian was scrupulous about the network refusing to speculate or report anything that was not yet confirmed – quite a tone shift.
Vossoughian said it was important for the audience to understand that they were “very aware” of other reporting about who the hostage-taker’s sister might be, but that they were not going to report it themselves because it wasn’t confirmed.
“Because this is obviously, as I’ve mentioned on multiple occasions, a very precarious situation and we don’t want to inflame an already sensitive situation until we have confirmation of that,” she said.
It would have been good advice to give a few minutes earlier when the Michigan Attorney General blamed rhetoric from “many of our nation’s leaders” and lack of gun control for the ongoing hostage situation. Though this was not the only press misstep in coverage of the attack.
Watch the clips above, via MSNBC.
