Fox Host: Brennan ‘First Politicized’ Terrorism When He Called Out ‘Politically Motivated’ GOP Attacks

By Matt Corley Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted how Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) are calling for President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to either resign or be fired after he aggressively pushed back against the GOP politicization of the attempted Christmas Day bombing. As TPMmuckraker’s Justin Elliott has pointed out, Republican leaders like Bond and Hoekstra didn’t complain about would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab being given Miranda rights for two weeks after he was criminally charged in a civilian court — an act which guaranteed he would be made aware of his Miranda rights. Bond, Hoekstra and other Republican critics didn’t start making noise about Mirandizing Abdulmuttalab until after former Vice President Dick Cheney pioneered the critique. But on Fox News today, host Gregg Jarrett claimed it was Brennan’s pushback that first politicized the issue. “Wasn’t it Brennan who first politicized this when he blamed you Republicans for quote, ‘politically motivated’ ‘fearmongering’ and ‘aiding al Qaeda?‘” Jarrett asked Bond in an interview. Watch it: Jarrett is either unaware or simply disregarding the numerous political attacks that Bond has launched at the White House over the handing of the Christmas Day incident, even claiming that the Obama administration has a “pre-9/11 mentality”: – The Obama “administration [should] change course from their pre-9/11 mentality of treating terrorists like common criminals,” said Bond. [Politico, 1/22/10] – “If the Administration is serious about putting American safety over terrorist rights, they will stop treating these enemy combatants like common criminals,” said Bond. [Bond Press Release, 1/21/10] Additionally, on Feb. 4, Bond sent President Obama a letter accusing the administration of jeopardizing “sensitive information” to “further political arguments” when it disclosed to reporters that Abdulmuttalab was cooperating. Bond claimed that the FBI told “the leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee” not to disclose that he was cooperating, but Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein told Fox News that “at no time in the briefing did [FBI Director Robert] Mueller say that Abdulmutallab’s cooperation was not to be revealed” and two law enforcement officials told Fox that when Bond spoke to Mueller on the phone, Mueller was only warning “that new information about Abdulmutallab could become public.”

Republicans Demand Brennan Resign For Calling Out GOP Politicization Of Terrorism

By Matt Corley Almost immediately after Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab failed to detonate a bomb on an airplane on Christmas Day, conservatives rushed to politicize the attempted terrorist attack. “People have got to start connecting the dots here and maybe this is the thing that will connect the dots for the Obama administration,” Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) said before he’d even been briefed on the incident. Karl Rove and Rep. Peter King (R-NY) criticized President Obama for issuing a statement on the failed bombing 72 hours after the event, even though President Bush waited longer to comment on “shoe-bomber” Richard Reid’s failed attempt to bring down an airliner in Dec. 2001. The drumbeat of political criticism from conservatives since then has been unrelenting, especially focusing on the fact that Abdumuttalab was read his Miranda rights after he awoke from surgery. Recently, the Obama administration has begun pushing back at the GOP’s political onslaught. On Meet The Press this past Sunday, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan, a 25-year veteran of the CIA, pointed out that he had kept key Congressional Republicans informed of Abdulmuttalab detainment by the FBI: On Christmas night, I called a number of senior members of Congress. I spoke to Senators McConnell and Bond, I spoke to Representative Boehner and Hoekstra. I explained to them that he was in FBI custody, that Mr. Abdulmutallab was, in fact, talking, that he was cooperating at that point. They knew that “in FBI custody” means that there’s a process then you follow as far as Mirandizing and presenting him in front of a magistrate. None of those individuals raised any concerns with me at that point. Brennan followed up his critique with a USA Today op-ed arguing that “too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points.” Brennan’s op-ed included the highly-charged assertion that “politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda.” Republicans have responded to Brennan’s pushback with incredulity. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, citing former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen’s misunderstanding of the facts, called Brennan “troubling” on Fox News yesterday. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) called Brennan an “egomaniac.” Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) declared Brennan “needs to go,” and is no longer “credible.” On Fox News today, Hoekstra, who repeatedly referred to Brennan as a “White House staffer” as opposed to an intelligence “professional,” said Obama should “fire” him. Watch it: On MSNBC today, Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie grilled Bond about whether the “Republican Party deserve[s] some blame” for terrorism becoming “too politicized.” Bond responded in denial, saying, “give me a break.” “They’re the ones who went out and called politics and they played politics,” said Bond of the White House. In an ironic twist, however, he then claimed that criticisms of the Bush administration’s terrorism policy during the past eight years had been “political attacks.” The White House said today that Bond’s call for Brennan to resign was “pathetic.” Unintentionally, Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade summed up the situation perfectly this morning when he said that Bond and Hoekstra had told him on the radio yesterday that “they’re just astounded and befuddled that” Brennan “continues to dig like this and act so political in condemning everybody else for acting political.” Update TPMmuckraker's Justin Elliott points out that none of Brennan's top GOP critics complained about Abdulmutallab being read his rights until after Tom Ridge and Dick Cheney raised the issue and after criminal charges had been announced for Abdulmutallab.