Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have yet to condemn anti-Semitic statements made by DNC chair frontrunner and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison and did not return requests for comment from The Daily Caller on whether they have any plans to do so.
As originally reported by TheDC on Sunday, Ellison promulgated an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory while speaking at a fundraiser held on behalf of a Libyan-born activist who called on Palestinians to commit jihad against Israel. According to the nation’s first Muslim congressman, Jews have been “mobilized” by Israel to “do its bidding in America.”
WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 09: Congressional Black Caucus members (R-L) Chair Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA); Rep. David Scott (D-GA), Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL), Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) hold a news conference about health care reform at the U.S. Capitol September 9, 2009 in Washington, DC. Lee said the caucus expects President Barack Obama to show support for a “robust” public option during his speech to Congress tonight. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
All three senators — Warren, Schumer and Sanders — endorsed Ellison for DNC chair. None has walked back their endorsement despite the Anti-Defamation League calling for Ellison to be disqualified from consideration for the top spot in the Democratic party.
The Democratic senators’ silence on Ellison’s promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories stands in stark contrast the example set by their Republican counterparts.
Republicans in the Senate as well as the House were quick to condemn then-presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump over comments he made about an American judge’s Mexican heritage. Democrats have offered no such response to Ellison’s comments.
Even so, Elizabeth Warren attempted to tie other prominent Republicans to Trump’s attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
“Where do you suppose Donald Trump got the idea that he can personally attack judges, regardless of the law, whenever they don’t bend to the whims of billionaires and big business?” Warren said back in June. “Trump isn’t a different kind of candidate. He’s a Mitch McConnell kind of candidate …Trump is also House Speaker Paul Ryan’s kind of candidate.”
Democratic politicians have offered no such condemnation of Ellison, whom major Democratic donor Haim Saban has said is “clearly an anti-Semite.” (RELATED: Dem Rep Ellison: House Democrats Will Do Nothing But ‘Vote No’ Under Trump)
In addition to his promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, Keith Ellison has also faced scrutiny over his affiliations with radical anti-Semite and Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan.
In 2009, Ellison was the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation after he failed to reveal that a pilgrimage he took to Mecca had been paid for by a group with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Ellison once advocated for American blacks to have their own nation and called the U.S. Constitution “best evidence of a white racist conspiracy to subjugate other peoples.” (RELATED: Black Congressman Refuse To Condemn Ellison’s Past Proposal For A ‘Black State’)