President Donald Trump suggested to a group of state attorneys general on Tuesday that his supporters were not responsible for the rise in hate crimes and anti-Semitism. He instead charged people from “the reverse” for stirring terror in an attempt “to make others look bad.”
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro reportedly asked the president about the pattern of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers and the recent desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Trump indicated at the meeting that he would address these concerns in his speech tonight before Congress, but he also dismissed the notion that his base of supporters was solely responsible for the hate crimes. Anna Orso, the reporter who broke this story, wrote that Shapiro “stopped short of saying Trump thinks his supporters are being framed for bomb threats.” Nevertheless, the attorney general inferred that this what the president meant.
Trump’s implication that people on the left have been behind these incidents echoes a recent talking point of his friend, Anthony Scaramucci, who shared a story earlier today on Twitter that claimed the Democrats purposefully incited violence at Trump rallies, insinuating that the same could be happening with the bomb threats.
It's not yet clear who the #JCC offenders are. Don't forget @TheDemocrats effort to incite violence at Trump rallies https://t.co/uTBFGhI0Kh
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) February 28, 2017
Scaramucci later backtracked, saying it was “highly irresponsible to jump to conclusions” after tweeting in German.
Ich bin ein Jude
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) February 28, 2017
I have stood with and will stand for the Jewish People for my entire life. Those that know me know.
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) February 28, 2017
I did not. Let's not start with the Fake News now. I said no one knows yet who did it. https://t.co/wynFuUl9aj
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) February 28, 2017
Hey Greg stop it. You are too smart for that. I said we just don't know. Until we do let's leave it at that. https://t.co/2oypBFS0KU
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) February 28, 2017
Republicans and Trump allies have previously tried to pin nefarious activities on Democrats. Republican members of Congress have said that the people attending their town halls are not actual constituents but paid protestors working for George Soros or former President Barack Obama.
According to a report from BuzzFeed News, Trump did say at the top of his remarks that he thought what was happening at Jewish sites was “reprehensible.”
