A Democratic congressman doubled down on his support for Louis Farrakhan on Mar. 4, claiming in an interview that he is a believer in Farrakhan despite Farrakhan’s history of anti-Semitism.
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) told The Daily Caller’s Peter Hasson that Farrakhan’s numerous anti-Semitic comments don’t bother him.
“I know Farrakhan, I know the Middle East question, I know the Jews and Farrakhan — I know all that, but that’s not what I spend all my time focused on,” Davis said. “I know Farrakhan, been knowing him for years and years and years and years and years, and every once in a while some writer or somebody will I guess try to think of something to say about Farrakhan, but nah, my world is so much bigger than any of that.”
Davis later added, “The world is so much bigger than Farrakhan and the Jewish question and his position on that and so forth. For those heavy into it, that’s their thing, but it ain’t my thing.”
The Democratic congressman had previously called Farrakhan “an outstanding human being.” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt recently wrote a post stating that Davis’ office had told the ADL that Davis was “misquoted,” but Davis shot that down in his interview with The Daily Caller.
“I don’t have no problems with Farrakhan,” Davis said.
The ADL told CNN’s Jake Tapper that they were “disappointed” with Davis’ comments:
2/ ADL: “We are deeply disappointed with Congressman Davis’ statements about Farrakhan, an avowed anti-Semite who leads a group that traffics in hate not just towards Jews but also the LGBTQ community,”
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 5, 2018
3/ ADL: “It is unfortunate that the congressman apparently can’t muster up the courage to denounce Farrakhan’s blatant anti-Semitism and instead chose to praise him instead. Hate should not be difficult to denounce."
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 5, 2018
Anthony Clark, who is launching a primary challenge against Davis, condemned the congressman’s support for Farrakhan:
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/970747694263275521
Davis released a statement on Mar. 5 claiming that The Daily Caller was trying “to impugn my character.”
“I have a lifetime record of rejecting, condemning and actively opposing all forms of hatred, bigotry and separatism based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability or language including specifically anti-Semitism,” Davis said. “Such views are antithetical to everything I believe and everything that I work for on a daily basis.”
Hasson responded by pointing out that Davis never actually disavowed Farrakhan in his statement:
Davis's office attacked my reporting the first time he praised Farrakhan. Then their boss spoke with me again and directly contradicted them. Now they've pushed out another statement attacking the "the ultra-right propaganda site The Daily Caller" for accurately quoting him https://t.co/ge9TGnuqcx
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) March 6, 2018
Notice what's not in here: any mention of Farrakhan whatsoever, much less a condemnation https://t.co/ge9TGnuqcx
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) March 6, 2018
Davis’ comments comes as Women’s March leaders are under fire for attending a recent Farrakhan speech where he railed against Jews’ “Synagogue of Satan” and slandered Jews supposedly controlling “the government and the FBI.” Tapper ran a segment on March 5 asking why the Womens’ March leaders won’t condemn Farrakhan:
Dem Congressman refuses to denounce Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who went on an anti-Semitic rant https://t.co/izWQrS3AXw pic.twitter.com/8voAiLnnSC
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) March 5, 2018
James Hasson, a contributor to The Federalist, noted that there has been little media coverage over a litany of Farrakhan stories:
https://twitter.com/JamesHasson20/status/970744398664302592
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