FBI Director Kash Patel faces heat for ‘hit a cop' comment: ‘Remember January 6?'
Following anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, FBI Director Kash Patel has warned that anyone hitting a cop will land straight in jail. His comments have not gone down well with a section of the internet that urged Patel to remember the January 6 rioters who were pardoned by US President Donald Trump.
Los Angeles has become the epicentre of major anti-ICE protests following a series of large-scale immigration raids by federal agents across the city. The operations sparked immediate backlash, with protesters clashing violently with law enforcement.
Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday in what the White House said was an effort to quell 'lawlessness'.
The development came after two days of confrontations that had seen federal agents shoot flash-bang grenades and tear gas towards crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants in a city with a large Latino population, as per an AFP report.
Amid the riots in LA, FBI Director Kash Patel warned that anyone hitting a police officer would go to jail.
'Hit a cop, you're going to jail… doesn't matter where you came from, how you got here, or what movement speaks to you. If the local police force won't back our men and women on the thin blue line, we FBI will,' he posted on X.
Kash Patel's post became the target of backlash as people reminded him of the January 6, 2021 riots in the US Capitol and how the administration's stance differed at that time from their stance today.
On January 6, 2021, a mob of Donald Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol. More than 150 police officers were injured during the riots that ensued, and one – Brian Sicknick – died the following day.
After being elected president in the 2024 United States presidential election Donald Trump pardoned about 1,500 people charged over the January 6 riots.
Kash Patel's post on landing in jail for attacking a cop led people to point out the irony of his statement.
'But if you do it wearing Trump merch while rioting at the US Capitol, you'll get a pardon, right, Kash?' wrote one X user.
'This declaration evidently does not apply to the Trump supporters who attacked police on Jan. 6,' another wrote.
'Trump pardoned all the Jan 6ers who assaulted cops,' one X user reminded the FBI director, even as another said, 'Remember Jan 6th? Your dear leader pardoned hundreds who assaulted cops.'
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