The weekend shooting at a Southern California synagogue was an episode of domestic terrorism, incidents which are being "fomented" because of the rhetoric coming from the White House, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin said Monday.
"This is domestic terrorism," the Illinois Democrat told CNN's "New Day." "Call it what it is. Had there been someone from the Middle East involved in this, someone with a green card involved in this, can you imagine the alerts that would have come out from the White House about the threats of terrorism to the United States?"
But President Donald Trump "does just the opposite," said Durbin. "With a wink and a nod he says to this nationalist and supremacists, ‘I know they’re just trying to protect the statues of Robert E. Lee," the senator added, while making a reference to Trump's comments following the 2017 Charlottesville, Va., riots and after presidential candidate Joe Biden referred to his actions.
Durbin acknowledged Trump condemned the shootings at the Congregation Chabad temple in the town of Poway, Calif., and "he should have."
"But why do these people feel they have license to attack synagogues, Sikh temples, churches across the United States?" said Durbin. "People feel a permission slip to move forward in areas they never have before."
Durbin repeated his comments during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," noting that he's introduced anti-terrorism legislation in the Senate to fight domestic terrorism.
"I think we can associate it with a lot of different elements with the internet, with some of the things that are being given permission by the leading politicians in this country," said Durbin. "That to me is something that should be taken as seriously as terrorism that comes from overseas."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.