The Justice Department has not changed its procedures for investigating hate crimes, nor has its commitment to prosecuting such crimes diminished under the Trump administration, an agency official told a Senate committee Tuesday.
The testimony came as Democrats lobbed a series of pointed questions at Eric Treene, the DOJ’s special counsel for religious discrimination within the Civil Rights Division, and sought to link a recent rise in religion-based hate crimes based to the campaign and election of Mr. Trump.
“Either through missteps or associations with controversial figures, the White House fails to speak clearly in opposition to bias and hate. Far too often the White House sends mixed messages,” Sen. Al Franken, Minnesota Democrat, said during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on religion-based hate crimes. “I’m curious what message you think it sends to individuals who may engage in that kind of reprehensible behavior when the president selects Steve Bannon as his chief strategist?”
“The message I feel strongest as a prosecutor and as an attorney for the Department of Justice, is the consistent message I’ve gotten from the Attorney General to pursue hate crimes,” Mr. Treene said.
The FBI’s latest count of hate crimes runs only though 2015, providing no account of crimes reported during the height of the presidential campaign or since Mr. Trump was sworn into office.
However, that data did show a 23 percent rise in religion-based hate crimes that year, including 257 crimes — a 67 percent increase — in the number of crimes targeting Muslims.
“From you perspective at the Justice Department, what do you see as the cause of this increase in threats?” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat.
Mr. Treene sidestepped Democrats’ questions regarding any correlation between Mr. Trump’s election and hate crimes, noting “one of the leading causes of anti-Muslim bias is not knowing any Muslims.”
“But why the increase in the last few years?” Ms. Klobuchar again asked. “I think the language at the top matters.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono, Hawaii Democrat, later said she thought the rise in hate crimes was “no accident” because “we are in an environment where the president targets Muslims with his language.”
Beyond the FBI’s data, private organizations that also track bias-related crime say the upward trend continued in 2016 and the beginning of 2017. The Anti-Defamation League reported last week that by its count, anti-Semitic incidents jumped by one-third to a total of 1,266 acts targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in 2016. The organization said 541 incidents were reported in the first three months of 2017 as well.
A number of the recent incidents targeting Jewish organizations include a series of related bomb threats. Authorities last month arrested 18-year-old Michael Ron David Kadar, who holds dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship, and charged him in connection with making a series of the bomb threats.
Mr. Treene held the arrest up as one such example of the DOJ’s commitment to tracking down perpetrators of hate crimes and said the investigation into the incidents was ongoing.
He said a government-staffed committee established by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is discussing ways to better track and address the problem. He noted that the FBI’s data on hate crimes provide an incomplete picture of the problem because law enforcement agencies are not required to report those statistics to federal authorities but that there are training programs in place to encourage agencies to do so.
While the committee is taking stock of current initiatives and the scope of the problem, he said a summit scheduled for June will bring in local law enforcement and religious leaders to the table to provide further insight.
“The attorney general has been consistent and strong in his message that hate crime is violent crime and we need to do everything with can with all the tools in our prosecutorial toolbox to fight this problem,” Mr. Treene said.
Republican senators asked Mr. Treene whether marching orders in the Justice Department have changed in regard to how hate crimes are dealt with or prosecuted since Mr. Sessions took over.
“Is there any doubt in your mind, any doubt whatsoever, that in your opinion the attorney general of the United States intends to pursue hate crimes vigorously?” said Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican.
“He has consistently given us the encouragement to pursue these cases vigorously,” Mr. Treene said.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.