Jewish Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel went off on Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) after the latter criticized the AG for pressing charges against anti-Israel protesters at the University of Michigan.
Nessel’s office charged the protesters “with a variety of crimes, including attempted ethnic intimidation, assaulting or obstructing a police officer, and more.”
Tlaib implied Nessel cannot do the job because of a bias: “It seems that the attorney general decided, if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.” From the video:
TAPPER: Let’s get to the heart of this. You called Congresswoman Tlaib’s reaction to your office’s charges and her allegations that you and your office has a bias, you said that was anti-semitic. Why?NESSEL: Well, you know, look for her to say that I could handle a litany of other cases, and that was fine, but when it comes to anything involving pro-Palestinian protesters, I could not be fair, I could not be objective. And I don’t think you have to be Angela Lansbury to figure this out, right? Clearly, she’s referencing my religion as to why she thinks I can’t be fair. She also mischaracterized the charges. And I think quite in, you know, intentionally, I mean, she talked about this being peaceful protesters. No peaceful protesters were charged in this event. And, you know, Rashida is a lawyer. She had every opportunity to call me to ask to see the evidence in this case, but you didn’t do that, you know. I — I have to rely on the facts, the law and the evidence when I go into a court of law. And that’s what we evaluated in this case. And that’s the only thing that we evaluated in terms of making a determination as to these charges.
Tapper then admitted he misspoke when talking to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer about the situation, so he asked Nessel about the comments again, “noting that Congresswoman Tlaib never explicitly said that your bias was because of your religion, and so it’s unfair for you to make that allegation.”
Nessel replied:
Well, a couple of things, in 2022 when my opponent accused me of being a groomer and a pedophile, everyone understood those were homophobic remarks because I happen to be gay, right, I didn’t have to explain it to people. Um, rashida Tlaib is an individual who is well known for making inflammatory and incendiary remarks that are antisemitic in nature. So this isn’t the first time that we would have heard these words out of her mouth.I think it’s very clear to everybody exactly what she was saying but I have to say this. It is my job to keep communities and campuses around Michigan safe and that is exactly what we’re doing. I understand that the congresswoman has very strong feelings about what is happening in the Middle East. So many people do here in the state of Michigan. But that doesn’t excuse criminal behavior. The answer to what’s happening in the Middle East is clearly not to have chaos and anarchy and lawlessness on our college campuses in a way that jeopardizes the safety of students.
Tapper mentioned how the university hasn’t shown any signs of it being “displeased” that Nessel’s office brought charges against these protesters.
Nessel said she hadn’t heard anything from the university.
Nessel added: “I don’t think it’s helpful to anyone to have the congresswoman commenting on the merit on these cases when she’s not familiar with the facts or the evidence.”
Tapper then asked Nessel about Whitmer’s comments on Monday and Tuesday where she defended the attorney general and how we must “use our platform and voices to call out hateful rhetoric and racist tropes.”
Nessel answered:
I certainly appreciate her statement today. We’ll say this about Governor Whitmer. We have a very close personal and professional relationship. I think we work really well together over the course of our time in these offices. She supported me and also supported the Jewish community. I just think it’s important that we focus on maintaining safety, security, and make sure that people around the state of Michigan know that irrespective of what’s happening in the Middle east, people are going to be protected here in the state of Michigan.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY