Fourteen folks have been useless and 35 others injured after the tragic New Orleans assault on Jan. 1, however a big swath of MAGA diehards have been preoccupied with one thing else: the Black FBI agent who, within the early chaos, acknowledged, “This isn’t a terrorist occasion.”
Within the aftermath of the killing spree, the far proper attacked Alethea Duncan, the FBI assistant particular agent in cost, for her preliminary evaluation, calling into query her professionalism and mocking her for carrying a small stud in her nostril.
Now, Duncan has been briefly reassigned, based on Fox Information. Whereas she reportedly nonetheless works for the FBI, no particulars about her new place have been launched.
Within the early hours of Jan. 1, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, drove his pickup truck right into a blocked-off space of bustling Bourbon Road, plowing right into a crowd of New Yr’s revelers. Jabbar jumped out of his automobile and exchanged gunfire with New Orleans law enforcement officials, who killed him on the scene.
The FBI instantly took over the investigation, and through an preliminary press briefing that morning, Agent Duncan spoke in regards to the evolving scenario: “This isn’t a terrorist occasion. What it’s proper now could be there’s an improvised explosive gadget that was discovered, and we’re engaged on confirming if it was a viable gadget or not.”
Duncan was additionally criticized for contradicting the declare by New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell that the assault was terrorist in nature.
A number of hours later, Duncan offered new data at one other press briefing, sharing {that a} covered-up ISIS flag was found on the trailer hitch, a number of weapons and improvised explosives have been discovered within the truck, and different IEDs had been implanted within the French Quarter. The lethal automotive ramming was now being investigated as a terrorist assault, she acknowledged.
Regardless of the very fact Duncan recognized Jabbar as a U.S. citizen from Texas, President-elect Donald Trump wrongly claimed he was an immigrant on social media, including additional confusion.
Now, following Fox Information’ reporting that the FBI has briefly reassigned Duncan, right-wing critics are kicking into excessive gear — once more. And so they’re predictably blaming DEI — and Duncan — for almost the whole lot.
“Sufficient is sufficient. Kash Patel must scorch the earth and clear home as a result of each final agent contaminated with this DEI nonsense must be proven the door,” learn a rant tagging Trump’s nominee to go the FBI, who technically falls into the DEI class because the Indian-American son of immigrant dad and mom.
“The nose-ringed FBI / DEI dud who stupidly, dishonestly mentioned the New Orleans terrorist assault was NOT a terrorist assault–was ‘reassigned,’” snipped one other.
“RIP Agent Nostril Ring — we hardly knew ye…” an X consumer mentioned, prompting the straight-up racist response, “She’s in all probability already consuming watermelon.”
However within the newest spherical of brutal assaults on Duncan, a number of voices within the far proper have emerged questioning the sudden flip of occasions.
“In equity, I assure you she was instructed to say this or at the very least instructed it was not that sort of occasion and simply repeated it. I’ve a sense she is taking the autumn for it,” wrote one.
“I hope she’s not a scapegoat. If the order to say that got here down the chain to her, they want to return up that chain and fireplace the supply, mentioned one other.
The FBI shuttered its DEI workplace in December and has not commented on Duncan’s reassignment, leaving hypothesis to run wild.
