Rep. Rashida Tlaib got emotional during a House hearing on domestic terrorism as she read one of the death threats she has received during her short tenure in Congress.
Holding back tears, the Michigan Democrat read a threat she received shortly after the mass shootings at mosques in New Zealand: “I was totally excited and pleased when I heard about 49 Muslims were killed and many more were wounded in New Zealand. Let’s hope and pray that it continues here in the good ol’ U.S.A. The only good Muslim is a dead one.”
“How is that not enough to fall under domestic terrorism if they’re targeting, solely based on my faith and others, and saying ‘a good Muslim is a dead one’?” she asked FBI Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Michael McGarrity.
“We get so many of them, and I keep asking what happens, what happens to these individuals?” Tlaib asked. “I’m a mother. I want to go home to my two boys.”
McGarrity said the FBI does not differentiate between domestic terror threats and foreign terror threats and they take them very seriously.
“I can tell you the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, we are working hard,” he said. “If there’s another statute that you think is needed, come talk to the Department of Justice.”
The attack on New Zealand mosques in Christchurch left over 50 people dead and wounded dozens more. The shooter livestreamed the attack and released a manifesto explaining his reasoning for targeting Muslims.
