Tapper: Is There ‘Disconnect’ Between Obama’s Comments on Terrorism and the Actual Threat?

During an interview with CBS This Morning on Wednesday, President Obama downplayed the threat ISIS poses to the United States. He said, “ISIL is not going to pose an existential threat to us. They are a dangerous organization like al Qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses, our homeland has never been more protected by more effective intelligence and law enforcement professionals at every level than they are now.”

Wednesday, of course, was the day of the San Bernardino attack, and now that it’s being investigated as terrorism and there’s a potential ISIS link, those comments don’t really look good in hindsight.

CNN’s Jake Tapper ran video of the president’s comments for Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell, who served on the House Intelligence Committee, and asked, “Do you ever worry that there’s a disconnect between what President Obama says about terrorism and the actual threat, not to mention the fears that I’m sure you hear about from your constituents?”

Swalwell said that Obama does understand the threat, but suggested that ISIS has been so successful abroad, “they are inspiring attacks that we don’t even know about among people that we’re not even contemplating to be threats.”

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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