Israeli Diplomat Accuses Ro Khanna of Trying to ‘Shift the Focus’ from His Graham Platner Support By Milking Being Detained
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Michael Leiter questioned whether Rep. Ro Khanna tried to "shift the focus" from his Graham Platner support by delaying the news of him being detained The post Israeli Diplomat Accuses Ro Khanna of Trying to ‘Shift the Focus’ from His Graham Platner Support By Milking Being Detained first appeared on Mediaite.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Leiter questioned whether Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) delayed saying he was detained by Israeli settlers for a few days so that he could time it to “shift focus” away from his support for disgraced ex-Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D).
Leiter was asked about the incident on Sunday during an interview on Face the Nation.
He told host Margaret Brennan the liberal lawmaker “ignored” the Israeli government and instead opted to coordinate his trip with Palestinian activists, which he said wasn’t a total shock, considering Khanna has “made no secret about his antipathy toward” Israel’s leadership. Leiter then wondered if Khanna timed the release of the news to help deflect from his Platner ties.
“To have this incident on Wednesday and wait to release it on Saturday, maybe this had more something to do with his support of Graham Platner beforehand and the difficulties he had with that and trying to shift the focus to something else, perhaps? I’m asking questions.”
Brennan sounded like she let out a little laugh when Leiter first mentioned Platner. But she then said “We did hear from Congressman Khanna, who said that there was an alert to the embassy on his behalf and that they asked for the news to be held until he had left the country.”
Leiter protested, “There was a question about visas, that’s all.” He continued by reiterating Khanna had “rejected” coordinating the trip with the Israeli government, before saying the whole thing was “unfortunate.”
He then got in a parting dig, saying “it’s interesting somebody wants to declare a presidential run by running off to Israel. Isn’t that strange?”
Brennan said the interview had to wrap there.
Leiter’s comment referenced Khanna’s “parting words,” as The New York Times reported on Saturday.
“Free advice to the Israelis: It’s not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates,” Khanna said, per NYT. “Not how you’re going to build good will with the next American president, whoever that is.”
Leiter’s comments about Platner follow the scandal-plagued Senate candidate dropping out last week after he was accused of raping a woman about five years ago. Khanna had stood by Platner as several other sordid headlines piled up in recent months, but he pulled his endorsement after the rape accusation was made.
Watch above via CBS.
The post Israeli Diplomat Accuses Ro Khanna of Trying to ‘Shift the Focus’ from His Graham Platner Support By Milking Being Detained first appeared on Mediaite.