Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI) On Violent Attacks On People Of Faith Across America
BERMAN: Five people stabbed at a rabbi's home in New York while celebrating Hanukkah. Two people shot and killed at a church in Texas. What's going on in this country? Joining me now is Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. He serves on the Armed Services Committee and is a ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee. Sen. Peters, thanks so much for being with us. I just had a chance to speak with Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh which, of course, dealt with the mass killing one year ago. I was asking him about this spate of attacks on Jews in America the last week and he had a chilling response. I want you to listen.</s>RABBI JEFFREY MYERS, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: It made me sort of wonder -- I don't recall them selling licenses to have open hunting season on Jews, but it sure can make Jews feel that way.</s>BERMAN: Do you feel that way now? That's quite a statement.</s>MYERS: It sure makes you pause and wonder what's going on in our society that people feel that they have a God-given right to attack any human being for whatever reason they choose to. It makes you pause and wonder what's going on, indeed.</s>BERMAN: So, Senator, what is going on? And more importantly, from where you sit in the U.S. Senate, what can be done?</s>REP. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Well, yes, those are chilling statements and I've heard similar statements here in Michigan. Recently, I convened a group of faith leaders from the Jewish community, Christian community, as well as the Muslim community to talk about legislation that I've worked on in past to increase security grants for places of worship. And I heard that directly from individuals that are very concerned that when they gather to worship that they could be a target. It's incomprehensible to think that's where we are in this country where when you go to a place where you should feel the most secure -- in a place of worship -- people are fearing -- are fearing that gathering of folks. And so, we are taking this up in the Homeland Security Committee. We've held hearings on what we're seeing as increased domestic terrorism. This is terrorism often related to the insidious ideology of white supremacy. You're seeing anti-Semitic rhetoric continue to ratchet up around the country. We've got to condemn that and condemn it as aggressively as we can. But we can also help some of these institutions protect themselves and enhance their security. The legislation that passed would authorize up to $75 million in grants and that's been now increased with the recent appropriation to $90 million. The Department of Homeland Security will also work with places of worship to do a threat assessment for those organizations to make sure that they're taking every precaution possible. And we're also working on how we can better coordinate information that the Department of Homeland Security may have on potential threats and then share that with local law enforcement. It's going to be -- ultimately, it's local law enforcement working with local places of worship that will be able to hopefully stem the kind of violent acts that we're seeing all too often.</s>BERMAN: New legislation you sponsored, that has been passed and is awaiting presidential signature?</s>PETERS: It is. The authorization has passed -- it passed unanimously -- waiting for the president. Again, we were able to appropriate $90 million in the most recent bill that -- these grants are available now and places of worship should reach out to see whether or not they qualify.</s>BERMAN: Would you support a federal domestic terror law? It's something that Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, just proposed at the state level. Do you think there needs to be a federal domestic terror law?</s>PETERS: I think we do have to recognize it. I think we have to look at what the parameters of that will be. But certainly, we have to recognize that domestic terrorism is the number one threat that we face here in terms of terrorist actions. You know, ever since 9/11, most all of the attacks that we've seen in this country have been domestic terror. And I mentioned at the opening, it's been the insidious ideology of white supremacy that is driving a lot of this. And we need to make sure that our Homeland Security folks are collecting the data to understand exactly what we're dealing with. We know that from the data that is out there -- a lot of them from independent groups -- show a significant rise in these kinds of attacks. We have to make sure we're dedicating resources to where the real threat is, and that's where the threat is right -- it's in domestic terrorism.</s>BERMAN: It is. I just want to make clear that some of these anti- Semitic attacks were not incidents of white terror. That anti- Semitism is not confined nearly to white supremacy. Unfortunately --</s>PETERS: Right.</s>BERMAN: -- it's a lot broader than that. I do want to ask you about your role --</s>PETERS: Right.</s>BERMAN: -- in what could be a Senate impeachment trial. We just don't know when it's going to start. When should it start, in your mind?</s>PETERS: Well, I think that we want to make sure that this is a fair trial. This process is a very serious process and we want to make sure that we have all of the facts so we can make a decision on it. And when I take that oath, which we all take, that we will dispense with fair justice, that we have the facts. And part of that, I think we're going to need some witnesses. I know in the segment prior to this, you talked to folks from "The New York Times" in a very elaborate article talking about what was happening in the White House. There are clearly witnesses that have very important information that should come forward in the trial and I certainly hope that will be what we will be able to do going forward. And in the meantime, while we're discussing all of that, we've got to continue to do the work for the American people and make sure we're focused on issues of dealing with high drug prices and career training -- all of the issues that the American people want us to be working on. But we have to make sure that we do have a fair trial that goes before the Senate.</s>BERMAN: Sen. Gary Peters, I hope you have a wonderful new year. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.</s>PETERS: Great -- thank you so much.</s>BERMAN: Poppy.</s>HARLOW: All right. The president's impeachment trial -- it's only one of the major legal showdowns in store for the new year. We'll tell you the top five to watch, ahead.