President Donald Trump still has not condemned the bombing of a Minnesota mosque that occurred this weekend, and one of Trump’s top advisers suggested his silence has to do with concerns the bombing could have been a faked hate crime “propagated by the left.”
In an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday, national security adviser Sebastian Gorka defended the president’s failure to comment on the Saturday bombing, saying Trump wanted to withhold comment until he learns more about the investigation.
“There’s a great rule: All initial reports are false,” Gorka said. “You have to check them and find out who the perpetrators are. We’ve had a series of crimes committed, alleged hate crimes by right-wing individuals in the last six months, that turned out to actually have been propagated by the left.”
Gorka offered no examples.
“When you’ve had people fake hate crimes in the last six months with some regularity, I think it’s wise, don’t you, to find out what exactly is going on when, in fact, it could turn out to be not who you are expecting,” Gorka continued.
Gorka, the ex-national security editor for the conservative Breitbart News, is known for his hardline views on Islam and terrorism.
Also known for his combative approach, Gorka told the MSNBC hosts it wasn’t his place to tell the president how to use social media and that Trump would comment as he sees fit.
“When we have some kind of finalized investigation, absolutely [he will comment],” Gorka said.
But Trump has been quick to comment on other recent terrorist attacks without having all the facts, especially those assumed to have been carried out by Muslims. In June, he condemned a terrorist attack in the Philippines that might have just been a robbery, and he spoke out against the London attacks almost instantly via Twitter.
At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is “no reason to be alarmed!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017
President Donald Trump has been holed up at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf resort this week as he began his 17-day vacation from the White House, but it’s not as if the commander-in-chief has exactly been off the grid.
Since the bombing, he’s found time to tweet (or retweet) 33 times, talking about “the failing New York Times,” White House leakers, jobs and North Korea.
Minnesota’s Gov. Mark Dayton declared the bombing “an act of terrorism” after an improvised explosive device went off at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, a city just outside Minneapolis.
