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Thursday, August 11, 2016

"'By refusing to apologize for his absurd conspiracy theory, Darryl Glenn shows he lacks the leadership to be a U.S. senator.'" Colorado, don't elect this guy.

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GOP Senate Candidate Claimed Obama Interfered With FBI’s Investigation Into Orlando Shooter
By Kira Lerner, August 11, 2016

Ten days after 49 people were shot and killed at an Orlando nightclub, Republican Senate candidate Darryl Glenn claimed President Obama was responsible because he had directed the FBI not to investigate the shooter.

Glenn, the El Paso County commissioner who upset establishment Republicans to win Colorado’s GOP Senate primary in June, blamed the president for giving “direction that limited the FBI” before the massacre, according to recently released audio from a June 22 candidate forum.

During the event, a moderator asked Glenn what the FBI should be doing differently, given that the agency investigated Omar Mateen three times, yet he was still able to carry out the massacre.

“The FBI actually has the tools, training, and equipment to do the job, but it sounds like there might be some political things happening where they’re given direction to look a different way,” Glenn responded.

He added that “direction comes from the top,” and that our current commander-in-chief “won’t lead.”

“I think we need to have hearings on this,” he said. “I think people need to be held accountable. I want to know whether or not our FBI personnel were personally directed to look the other way.”

Listen to the audio and read the full transcript:



The FBI did in fact interview Mateen three times before the shooting. Each time, the agency determined that there was not enough evidence to consider him a threat.

Glenn is just the latest Republican leader to blame Obama for violence or terrorism. Earlier this week, Trump claimed that Obama is the “founder of ISIS,” and after the Orlando shooting, the Republican presidential nominee blamed the president and his lax immigration laws for the attack.

Like Trump, Glenn has refused to apologize or back down from his comments. In a statement, campaign spokesperson Katey Price did not directly respond to the remark but instead shifted the focus to Obama’s foreign policy.

“We have a commander-in-chief who has politicized the threat of radical Islam both here and abroad, rather than calling them for what they are — terrorists intent on destroying us and our way of life,” the statement said.

Chris Meagher, a spokesperson for the Colorado Democratic Party, told ThinkProgress that Glenn’s “dangerous language” proves that he is “not ready to be a U.S. senator.”

“There are consequences for your words,” he said. “Out-of-touch candidates like Donald Trump and Darryl Glenn cannot be allowed to normalize this outrageous, divisive, and dangerous rhetoric. By refusing to apologize for his absurd conspiracy theory, Darryl Glenn shows he lacks the leadership to be a U.S. senator.”

Glenn’s call for hearings into Obama’s leadership is not the only questionable idea he floated following the Orlando shooting. He also suggested that neighbors should “vet” each other and leave “political correctness” aside.

“If your neighbor is doing something wrong, let’s call it,” he said during a speech. “Let’s say this person is doing wrong, and let’s notify our law enforcement so we can actually vet that individual. That doesn’t mean we are mean and not compassionate. We care about our neighbors.”
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