Lynch: ‘Can’t Say Definitively’ if San Bernardino Murderers Were ‘Radicalized’
Joining Chuck Todd for an interview on MSNBC’s Meet The Press, Attorney General Loretta Lynch cautioned Americans against “trying to define” the Islamic terrorists who murdered 14 and wounded 21 in San Bernardino, CA. When asked about the motivations of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, Lynch said it was “too early to say” and that she “can’t say definitively” whether or not they were “radicalized” Muslims.
Asked about the couple’s travels to Saudi Arabia, Lynch said, “I’m not able to go into a lot of specifics there.” She continued, “What we are trying to focus on, again, is what motivated these two individuals.”
Both Todd and Lynch refused to qualify the terrorism as either Islamic or Islamist.
When asked about red flags among potential terrorists that should warrant suspicion from vigilant observers, Lynch warned that large caches of weapons held by individuals should prompt Americans to be concerned. No mention was made of ideological risk factors pertaining to Jihadist ideology. Lynch said, “If you see something, say something.” A neighbor of the Islamic terrorist couple said he chose not to report any of his suspicions to authorities out of a fear of being perceived to be racially profiling them.
Reinforcing the Obama Administration’s refusal to acknowledge linkages between Islamic terrorism, Islam, and Muslims, Lynch said Americans should abstain from “trying to define” the San Bernardino murderers. She said, “I would caution people not to try and define either of these two individuals, right now.”
Todd asked Lynch whether she was worried of Americans becoming “overly suspicious,” seemingly reiterating his lamentation that that the terrorists in San Bernardino were motivated by radical Islam. Lynch said, “People are concerned, and we understand that.”
Lynch subtly invoked the the defunct left-wing narrative of Farook and Malik engaging in workplace violence, stating that the risk factors contributing to the Islamic terrorist attacks in San Bernardino “were very similar to workplace disputes.”
Speaking of propaganda from ISIS to inspire Islamic terrorism in America and the broader West, Lynch refused to specify that it targets Muslims. Lynch said that such propaganda pushing the “encouragement of people” to carry out Islamic terrorism needed to be addressed. “We’re looking to see,” Lynch said, “what are the common threads” of motivation for such terrorism, against neglecting to characterize the ideology as Islamic or Islamist and the perpetrators as Muslims.
Asked about “gun control” as a response to these events, Lynch said, “Dealing with guns is one way” of dealing with the problem.
Todd neglected to ask about the media’s compromising of a scene of investigation related to the San Bernardino Islamic terrorism – which his own network leading the way – namely the apartment shared by the deceased Islamic terrorists Farook and Malik.
Watch the interview below, via NBC.