A New York Times reporter, Katie Benner, deleted a series of tweets that suggested supporters of former President Donald Trump should be called “enemies of the state,” saying that they were “unclearly worded.”
The series of now-deleted posts began by saying that “today’s #January6thSelectCommittee underscores the America’s current, essential [national security] dilemma: Work to combat legitimate national security threats now entails calling a politician’s supporters enemies of the state.”
Benner continued by saying, “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?”
“This dilemma was unresolved by the Russia probe and 2 impeachments. With many Republicans denying the reality of the Jan. 6 attack, I doubt the #January6thCommittee will resolve it either. That leaves it up to voters, making even more essential free, fair access to the polls,” the New York Times reporter wrote.
A House select committee that was approved largely by Democrats held its first Jan. 6 hearing on Tuesday, including testimonials from several Capitol Police officers. Republican lawmakers said the panel is highly partisan and is only designed to politically wound former Presiden Donald Trump and his supporters after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected several Republican picks for the committee this month.
Brenner’s now-deleted Twitter remarks were resoundingly criticized on social media, with some saying that she’s essentially serving as a partisan operative. Some critics noted that Brenner spent a number of years in Beijing, China, and was a freelance writer for the Beijing Review, which is operated and published by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-owned China International Publishing Group and is China’s only national news magazine in English.
“Absolutely amazing: the New York Times’ Justice Department reporter says the US faces an ‘essential natsec dilemma’: namely, that Trump supporters are ‘enemies of the state’ and all of the GOP is a threat to the State. This is a reporter -- not an op-ed writer -- saying this,” former Washington Post journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote. “Hearing anyone describe a traumatic and violent experience provoke emotions: even for police officers. That’s what today is for. But the fixation on 1/6 is about exactly this: classifying Trump supporters as Enemies of the State for political gain & Security State power.”
The Epoch Times has contacted the New York Times for comment.
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