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Amid Outrage Over Stephen Bannon,
F.B.I. Reports Surge in Hate Crimes
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR, ALAN RAPPEPORT, ERIC LICHTBLAU and MAGGIE HABERMANUPDATED 4:14 PM
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President-elect Donald J. Trump’s picks for top behind-the-scenes advisers are roiling Washington. Now there are statistics to back the rising concerns.
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Stephen K. Bannon at a Donald J. Trump rally in New Hampshire last month. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Hate crimes surge, led by attacks on Muslims.
The F.B.I. reported Monday that attacks against American Muslims rose last year, driving an increase of about 7 percent in hate crimes against all victims.
The data, the most comprehensive look at threat crimes nationwide, expanded on previous findings by researchers and outside monitors, who have noted an alarming rise in some types of hate crimes tied to the intense vitriol of the presidential campaign and the aftermath of terror attacks at home and abroad since 2015.
A wave of racially charged assaults, graffiti attacks and other episodes has swept the country since Election Day, prompting Mr. Trump to call for a halt to it during a “60 Minutes” interview broadcast on Sunday night.
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In its report Monday, the F.B.I. cataloged a total of 5,818 hate crimes in 2015 — a rise of nearly 340 over the year before — including assaults, bombings, threats and property destruction against minorities, women, gays and others.
Attacks against Muslim Americans saw the biggest surge: 257 reports of assaults, attacks on mosques and other types hate crimes against Muslims last year, a jump of about 67 percent over the year before. It was the highest total since 2001, when the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks saw more than 480 attacks.
Attacks against transgender people also sharply increased, the data showed.
Law enforcement officials acknowledge that the statistics give an incomplete picture because many local agencies still have a spotty record of reporting hate crimes, 26 years after Congress directed the Justice Department to begin collecting the data.
“We need to do a better job of tracking and reporting hate crime to fully understand what is happening in our communities and how to stop it,” James B. Comey Jr., the F.B.I. director, said Monday.
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Senator Bernie Sanders addressed an overflow crowd in Colorado Springs while campaigning for Hillary Clinton three days before Election Day. Credit Stacie Scott/The Gazette, via Associated Press
Trump and Putin speak, officially.
They were accused by detractors of being bosom buddies, in cahoots over underhanded efforts to rig the American election — accusations candidate Trump denied. Now, President-elect Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia have spoken.
The Kremlin released a readout Monday of the first call between Mr. Putin and the president-elect since he won the election, saying the men expressed mutual optimism about improving the dire state of relations between the two countries.
According to the Kremlin, Mr. Putin said he hoped to work with Mr. Trump in an atmosphere of mutual respect without interfering in each other’s internal affairs. They also talked about fighting international terrorism and settling the crisis in Syria.
The Trump transition team reported that “President-elect Trump noted to President Putin that he is very much looking forward to having a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the people of Russia.”
While Mr. Trump said he hoped to have a constructive relationship with Russia, he insisted during one of his debates with Hillary Clinton that he was “no puppet” of Mr. Putin.
Bernie Sanders speaks out.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who mobilized a movement but not enough votes to win the Democratic presidential nomination, is stepping forward as an alternative to the party’s leadership and a stalwart against racial politics.
Taking to his campaign Twitter handle on Monday, he decried the Democrats’ loss of white, working-class voters to President-elect Trump.
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Bernie Sanders ? @BernieSanders
I come from the white working class, and I am deeply humiliated that the Democratic Party cannot talk to the people where I came from.
10:55 AM - 14 Nov 2016
7,476 7,476 Retweets 25,379 25,379 likes
He added, “The Democratic Party has to stand with working people, feel their pain and take on the billionaire class, Wall Street and drug companies.
But he also said that the new role of Stephen K. Bannon in the Trump White House as senior counselor and chief strategist should make the country “very nervous.” The country has battled “discrimination and racism and sexism and homophobia” for hundreds of years, he said in an interview on ABC’s “The View” program on Monday, and the country could not afford to move backward.
“We’re going to tell Mr. Bannon and any other advisers that we’re not going to be turning on each other,” Mr. Sanders said. “We’re going to be standing together.”
In concert, liberal activists staged a sit-in in the office of Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the incoming Democratic minority leader, to demand a leadership position in the next Senate for Mr. Sanders.
Indignation is seen over Bannon appointment.
Civil rights groups, Democrats and some Republicans on Monday denounced President-elect Trump’s decision to appoint Mr. Bannon to the top White House position, warning that he represents nationalist and racist views that should be rejected by the incoming president.
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File under: Oh, to be a fly on the wall, Trump and Xi.
Mr. Trump has spoken with President Xi Jinping of China, the presidential transition team announced on Monday, and the world likely thought, “Interesting.”
According to the announcement, in a call that took place on Monday Beijing time, Mr. Xi congratulated Mr. Trump for “winning a historic election,” and the president-elect thanked the Chinese leader for his well wishes.
“During the call, the leaders established a clear sense of mutual respect for one another, and President-elect Trump stated that he believes the two leaders will have one of the strongest relationships for both countries moving forward,” the statement said.
No mention of whether Mr. Trump’s repeated campaign threats against Chinese trade practices came up, nor his statement that climate change was a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese, nor his get-tough promises on economic relations moving forward.
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President-elect Donald J. Trump has chosen Reince Preibus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and a campaign adviser, as the White House chief of staff. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times
Reince Priebus defends Bannon pick.
Reince Priebus, who was chosen on Sunday to become Mr. Trump’s White House chief of staff, defended the selection of Stephen K. Bannon to serve as chief strategist on Monday and pushed back against suggestions that Mr. Bannon is racist and anti-Semitic.
“That’s not the Steve Bannon that I know,” Mr. Priebus said on MSNBC, calling him a force for good on the campaign. “I’ve only seen a generous, hospitable, wise person to work with.”
Civil rights groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the selection of Mr. Bannon, pointing to the divisive views promoted by Breitbart News, the nationalist website that he runs.
Mr. Priebus said that he agreed that Mr. Trump still had more to do to bring the country together and that it would be healthy for him to deliver a unifying speech to tone down some of the things he said in the heat of the campaign battle.
“He wants to make you proud of your country and serve you,” Mr. Priebus said.
Fringe broadcast host says Trump offered thanks.
Alex Jones, an online broadcast host who has accused the government of grand-scale conspiracies, says that President-elect Trump personally called him to thank him for his support during the campaign.
Mr. Jones made the revelation on a brief clip on his website.
“He said, ‘Listen Alex, I just talked to the kings and the queens of the world,’” Mr. Jones recalled, saying that Mr. Trump added, “I want to thank you, your audience.”
He said the incoming president promised to come on his program again in the next few weeks. He celebrated that Mr. Trump had triumphed over “hoaxes” such as Obamacare.
Mr. Jones was an early booster of Mr. Trump, who appeared on his program during the end of the primaries. Mr. Jones has charged, among other things, that the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut in December 2012 was a hoax.
Look, more followers!
Mr. Trump is a highly public scorekeeper of his own accolades and accomplishments and his elevation to the highest office in the land has not changed his instinct to crow about the smallest details. During his interview with “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday night, Mr. Trump bragged that since his election, he had gained tens of thousands of new followers on his social media accounts.
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