A senior adviser to President Trump implied that the Democratic Party might be involved in the recent wave of bomb threats to Jewish community centers.
Anthony Scaramucci, once nominated to run the Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs, linked to a Breitbart article that argued Democrats had lured Trump supporters into violence during campaign rallies in a tweet about the wave of 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
Here's his first tweet.
A key Trump adviser suggests Dems are behind the JCC threats: https://t.co/WcxTi0Nnqu
— Mark Gongloff (@markgongloff) February 28, 2017
A Bloomberg reporter retweeted that tweet.
No, I'm saying until we know for sure it's highly irresponsible to jump to conclusions https://t.co/wynFuUCKyT
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) February 28, 2017
Scaramucci responded by denying he blamed the Democrats and was merely urging caution.
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
He insisted reports to the contrary were "fake news."
Although I disagree with Anthony 99.9% of the time, I'd testify under oath that he doesn't have an anti-Semitic bone in his body
— Steve Trost (@trs10w) February 28, 2017
Some defended him and insisted he wasn't anti-Semitic.
No. @Scaramucci simply noted that @TheDemocrats normalized violence as a pilitical tool in the Trump era. https://t.co/CjRe1G5Jlc
— Jews For Trump (@jewsfortrump) February 28, 2017
A group of Jewish Trump supporters took his side.
this is disgusting, you weirdo. You care more about avoiding blame than evil itself.
— Lev Novak (@LevNovak) February 28, 2017
But critics argued he was merely trying to avoid being blamed.
To blame President Trump for rise in anti-Semitism is extremely unfair. He condemns the heinous acts and is eager to find those responsible
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) February 28, 2017
Scaramucci had argued those linking a rise in anti-Semitism to Trump were unfair.
The context
Since the start of 2017, dozens of bomb threats have been phoned in to Jewish community centers in the U.S. and Canada. Jewish cemeteries in St. Louis and Philadelphia were vandalized in recent weeks.
Trump said that anti-Semitism was "horrible" and it "has to stop" after a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture earlier this month. During a press conference, he said he was the "least anti-Semitic person you will ever meet."
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