Neo-Nazi Informant Suggests Candidates Should Die
Despite a series of travails 鈥 a in this space that he was allegedly a paid FBI informant, his 鈥渜uitting鈥 of the white power movement only to rejoin days later, and attacks from other white supremacists 鈥 Turner is gamely playing on.
And for him, that means issuing threats.
A few days ago, Turner on his website that John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were all 鈥渢raitors.鈥 鈥淚f you think real Patriots like me are going to sit idly by while you turn our country over to such people, you are sadly mistaken. 鈥 Think I鈥檓 kidding? My audience includes the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, skinheads and Nazis. 鈥 The deadly serious kind.鈥 Then Turner proceeded to recount how he once said that a federal judge who had ruled against a neo-Nazi group in a 2005 copyright case was 鈥渨orthy of being killed鈥 鈥 and how the judge鈥檚 mother and husband were subsequently murdered in her home. 鈥淚 hope,鈥 Turner wrote, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to start talking the same way about Clinton, McCain and Obama.鈥
Hatewatch first printed allegations that Turner was an FBI informant on Jan. 11. Although Turner had told supporters just a day earlier that he was leaving the racist movement, he responded by bringing his Internet radio show and website back to life and insisting the allegations were false. Since then, Hatewatch has confirmed through numerous knowledgeable sources that Turner was, in fact, a paid FBI informant, and that he had worked for the agency鈥檚 Newark, N.J., office for years. As reported here in January, experts in police procedure severely criticized the FBI鈥檚 use of Turner because he was clearly doing more to provoke violence than to contain it.
Meanwhile, a minor storm broke out this week over Turner鈥檚 past links to Sean Hannity, the abrasive right-winger who co-hosts FOX News鈥 鈥淗annity & Colmes鈥 show. Hannity鈥檚 ties to Turner have been public knowledge since at least 2005, when Max Blumenthal on them in The Nation. But last Wednesday, March 19, the good people over at NewsHounds a remarkable exchange between Hannity and guest Malik Shabazz, head of the anti-white and anti-Semitic hate group, the . In it, Hannity initially denies knowing Turner.
The exchange starts with Hannity on the offensive as he discusses Obama鈥檚 20-year relationship with his controversial former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright: 鈥淲hat I don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e understanding here, Malik, is that when you hear the minister of him for 20 years, when you hear the associations with [Nation of Islam leader] , one of the biggest racists and anti-Semites in the country, what you鈥檙e not understanding is, America hears extremism at its worst.鈥
鈥淟et me ask you this,鈥 Shabazz replies. 鈥淎re you to be judged by your promotion and association with Hal Turner?鈥
Sputtering, Hannity responds, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know anybody named 鈥 this is nonsense. I don鈥檛鈥︹ But then he changes course. 鈥淪ir, sir鈥 That was a man that was banned from my radio show 10 years ago, that ran a Senate campaign in New Jersey.鈥
鈥淎 neo-Nazi, you backed his career,鈥 Shabazz said.
鈥淭hat is an absolute, positive, lie and you鈥檝e been reading the wrong websites, my friend,鈥 Hannity shot back. 鈥淕ood try.鈥
As was pointed out yesterday by , the two men indeed did have had 鈥渁 nice, long, chummy history.鈥 However, there鈥檚 no evidence that Hannity remained friendly with Turner once Turner went public as a full-fledged neo-Nazi.