Biden: White Supremacy Posed Greater Threat to US Than ISIS

The administration of President Biden emphasized that white supremacy posed the greatest threat to the country before the New Orleans terror attack on New Year's Day.

Biden stated in June 2021, during the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, that the intelligence community considers white supremacy terrorism to be the most dangerous threat to the homeland today, rather than ISIS or al Qaeda.

Weeks after declaring that White supremacy is terrorism during the State of the Union, a comment was made.

On New Year's Day, a suspected terror attack occurred in New Orleans when a man identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, allegedly rammed a truck into crowds celebrating the holiday on Bourbon Street. The FBI confirmed on Wednesday that they were investigating the incident as an act of terror, stating that they had confirmed the suspect had an ISIS flag in the vehicle at the time of the attack.

The FBI stated on Thursday that Jabbar was motivated by ISIS, but there is no proof that he was instructed by the group to execute the attack.

The attack has revived Biden's past discourse on white supremacy and national security, echoed by administration officials like Attorney General Garland.

According to Garland, the FBI considers "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race," as the top domestic violent extremist threat in the U.S.

Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, joined Garland in warning about the threat posed by white supremacists to the US in 2021. The Biden administration officials at the time argued that the January 6th, 2021, incident, where supporters of President-elect Donald Trump breached the Capitol building, led to increased concern over domestic threats to democracy.

""The invasion of the Capitol posed a greater threat to democracy than any other danger Garland had seen," he stated, emphasizing it as an attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power."

In his 2023 commencement address to Howard University, Biden mentioned the threat of white supremacy.

"White supremacy is the most dangerous terrorist threat in our homeland," Biden stated. "I say this regardless of the location."

The Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security released a report in 2020, titled "Homeland Threat Assessment," which identified white supremacists and other domestic violent extremists as the greatest threat to the nation. In contrast, following Biden's inauguration, Mayorkas announced that DHS would adopt a new approach to combating domestic violent extremism, both internally and externally, compared to the previous administration.

After the Wednesday morning attack, conservative social media users and Biden administration critics revived Biden's past remarks on white supremacy, joking that the comments were "not as relevant now."

The brother of the suspected terrorist, Abdur Jabbar, told the New York Times that Shamsud-Din Jabbar had been raised Christian but converted to Islam. He emphasized that his brother's actions were a result of "radicalization" and did not reflect the Islamic faith.

"He stated that what he did did not reflect Islam, but rather was a form of radicalization rather than religious belief."