A Republican candidate for Congress in New York insists he was being facetious when he said Attorney General Merrick Garland “should be executed” for green-lighting the raid on former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida.
Carl Paladino, a businessman in the Buffalo area, made the comments in an Aug. 13 interview on a program hosted by Breitbart News.
“We have a couple of unelected people who are running our government, in an administration of people like Garland, who should be not only impeached, he probably should be executed,” Mr. Paladino said. “The guy is just lost. He’s a lost soul. He’s trying to get an image, and his image, his methodology is just terrible. To raid the home of a former president is just — people are scratching their heads and they’re saying, ‘What is wrong with this guy?’”
Pressed by the Breitbart host on what he meant with his dire rhetoric, Mr. Paladino cooled things down.
“I’m just being facetious. The man should be removed from office,” Mr. Paladino said. “He shows his incompetence. He wants to get his face in front of the people and show he’s got some mettle to him, but his choice of issues and choice of methodology is very sad.”
The comments, however, are looming over the final stretch of his GOP race against New York Republican State Committee Chair Nick Langworthy before the primary on Tuesday.
Strident rhetoric around the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago has politicians and officials warning about attacks on federal law enforcement. A man was killed by police after trying to attack an FBI office in Cincinnati shortly after the raid.
Paladino spokesperson Vish Burra also told The Buffalo News on Wednesday that Mr. Paladino was not calling for Mr. Garland’s death.
“The comment is clear: Carl does not think Garland should be executed and when you listen to the interview, when asked what he meant, he stated he was being facetious,” Mr. Burra said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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