New York Times reporter Katie Benner deletes the tweets that suggested supporters of former President Donald Trump should be considered “enemies of the state.”
Why? Benner said she deleted the tweets because they were “unclearly worded.”
“I deleted unclearly worded tweets regarding the Jan 6. committee hearing,” she tweeted later on Tuesday.
What she said: Benner’s initial tweets were a commentary regarding the first hearing that the Jan. 6 select committee held on Tuesday.
The New York Times reporter said that the committee’s hearing “underscores” what she described as a “dilemma” about national security.
“Today’s #January6thSelectCommittee underscores the America’s current, essential natsec dilemma: Work to combat legitimate national security threats now entails calling a politician’s supporters enemies of the state,” Benner wrote in now-deleted tweets.
She explained: As Americans, we believe that state power should not be used to work against a political figure or a political party. But what happens if a politician seems to threaten the state? If the politician continues to do so out of office and his entire party supports that threat?”
The Times’ DOJ reporter said that the committee, which was created by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is unlikely to resolve that “dilemma.”
“That leaves it up to voters, making even more essential free, fair access to the polls,” Benner argued.
Critics slammed Benner for the remarks.
“This is such a wildly extreme statement on so many levels, couched in the phony language of journalistic impartiality,” tweeted journalist Michael Tracey.
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1420041262942629891At the first committee hearing, four police officers testified about their experiences during the Capitol riot. They criticized Republicans who they said downplayed the violence that took place on Jan. 6. Both Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) grew emotional at the hearing after hearing the officers’ accounts of what happened at the Capitol.
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