Thankfully Peter King remains strong amid all the pressure upon him..… (The Hill) The House Homeland Security Committee chairman blasted the mainstream media on Tuesday, calling outlets “irresponsible” for criticizing the panel’s planned hearing on radicalization in the U.S. Muslim community. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) has been taking an enormous amount of political heat for the hearing scheduled for Thursday. But despite objections from the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), and several other lawmakers, King intends to forge ahead, as planned, with the proceeding.
In a Tuesday editorial, The New York Times said King’s hearing was “designed to stoke fear against American Muslims [and] his refusal to tone down the provocation despite widespread opposition suggests that he is far more interested in exploiting ethnic misunderstanding than in trying to heal it.”
King immediately shot back, saying he didn’t want to feel guilty for not holding the hearings in the event another attack, like that of Sept. 11, 2001, took place.
“What are they afraid of? What are they hiding from? Why are they attacking me in such a rabid way?” King told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I can take the hits, that doesn’t bother me at all.
“I don’t ever want it on my conscience that if another attack comes, I wake up the next morning and say, ‘I backed down to political correctness, I backed down toThe Washington Post, or the left-wing New York Times, because I was afraid of political retribution.’ I’m going to do what I have to do, and I’m going to do it.” (continue reading)
(NYDN)- Cops and federal agents agree with Rep. Pete King that they don’t get a lot of tipsters from the Muslim community – but they say that’s true of many other communities.
Counterterrorism and intelligence sources from the NYPD and FBI say law enforcement faces the same problem with the Mafia, drug cartels and the MS-13 gang.
“Criminals are criminals. It gets dicier because Muslim extremists wrap their work in religion, but the smokescreens, the silence and intimidation are similar,” an FBI source said. “What’s different is the risk – the extent of the damage, the number of innocent people who can be hurt.”
King has outraged many Muslim-Americans by convening hearings into homegrown radical Islamists and claiming the community has stonewalled terror investigations. (more)
(Politico)- The top two House Republican leaders are divided over how to handle the bubbling controversy surrounding Homeland Security Chairman Peter King’s hearing into “radicalization” in the American Muslim community.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the highest-ranking Jewish member of Congress, is squarely behind King as he takes shots from civil libertarians and religious groups over his decision to target one group in his investigation of the causes of terrorism
“Chairman King works tirelessly to ensure that our homeland is secure, and following the tragic murders of U.S. soldiers in Germany by a radical Islamist, the Fort Hood murders committed by a radical Al Qaeda sympathizer and the recent arrest in Texas of a Saudi student planning jihad, this is certainly a relevant topic for committee consideration,” Cantor spokeswoman Laena Fallon said.
But Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are keeping their distance from King, perhaps trying to avoid letting this issue become a distraction for the GOP majority.
“Chairman King is chairman of the Homeland Security Committee” is all Boehner spokesman Michael Steel would say when asked about the controversy. McCarthy’s office declined to comment.
It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement from the top. And that bell may well remain unrung if King follows through with his plan to hold a second hearing on the radicalization of Muslims in the American prison population. (more)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Long Island Congressman Peter King is facing threats — and getting extra security. But he vowed Monday to forge ahead with controversial hearings on radicalization in the Muslim-American community, reports CBS 2’s Tony Aiello. King was heavily criticized at a weekend rally in Times Square. “American Muslims are part of the American family and are Americans, too!” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said.
But the congressman was strongly supported at a smaller rally nearby. “Imam Rauf and his friends are trying to create a phony trumped-up civil rights movement,” one King supporter said. Every Homeland Security chair gets protection, but King’s has been stepped up in the wake of threats — some generated by the controversy over the hearings.
“I’m getting a lot of hostile phone calls now, but the main threats I’m getting are from overseas,” Rep. King said. (more)
