Amid a Crime Wave, the New York State Attorney General Gets Tough on . . . Reporters

Letitia James has used her office to thwart investigative reporters while sticking up for a group with intimate ties to Hamas.

Share this story

State attorney general Letitia James in New York, November 19, 2019

Lucas Jackson/Reuters

New Yorkers are currently suffering through an epidemic of violent crime that is diminishing the quality of life of the nation’s most-burdened taxpayers. And what is state attorney general Letitia James doing about it? Pushing back against the so-called bail-reform laws that every day turn violent offenders back out on the street? Devising new ways to protect tourists and residents? Conducting a forensic investigation into all that missing Covid-19 relief cash that was stolen?

No, she’s coming to the defense of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in its efforts to stop its own members from talking to reporters about the potentially illegal activities of the group’s leaders. On April 1 (this couldn’t have been an April Fool’s Day joke, can it?), the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York sent a cease-and-desist notification to Steven Emerson, founder and director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), ordering the end to “any ongoing or contemplated unlawful espionage operations against Muslims and Muslim organizations within the State of New York.”

A. J. Caschetta

About the Author

A. J. Caschetta

A. J. Caschetta is a Milstein fellow at the Middle East Forum, chief political correspondent at the Investigative Project on Terrorism, and principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Comments

Advertisement

Advertisement