Former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann referred to the man arrested for an attempted suicide bombing plot on Capitol Hill Friday as a “homegrown violent extremist,” via her Twitter account.
The Minnesota congresswoman was referring to the attempted attack on Capitol Hill by a 29 year old Morrocan man named Amine El Khalifi, who was arrested by FBI agents Friday.
“You decide. Was today’s attempted attack on the U.S. Capitol done by a ‘homegrown violent extremist,’” tweeted the former Republican presidential candidate on Friday evening, following the attempted attack.
Ms. Bachmann dropped out of the Republican primary race following a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses. The majority of the views she expressed regarding foreign policy along the campaign trail centered around a strong national security policy.
The former candidate also referred to Texas congressman Ron Paul as a “dangerous candidate” for his foreign policy views, which centered around less U.S. military presence abroad to reduce defense spending.
The “homegrown violent extremist” tweet by Ms. Bachmann was likely a reference to details regarding the arrest of Mr. El Khalifi by FBI agents Friday.
“The affidavit alleges that El Khalifi sought to be associated with an armed extremist group, and on Dec 1, 2011, he was introduced by a man he knew as ‘Hussien’ to an individual named ‘Yusuf,’ who was, in reality, an undercover law enforcement officer,” according to the Justice Department press release.
Ms. Bachmann tweeted a CNN article describing the arrest of Mr. El Khalifi. The “homegrown violent extremist” question was a reference to the details from that article about the FBI investigation.
“On February 17, 2012, El Khalifi allegedly traveled to a parking garage near the U.S. Capitol Building. El Khalifi took possession of a MAC-10 automatic weapon and put on a vest containing what he believed to be a functioning bomb. Unbeknownst to El Khalifi, both the weapon and the bomb had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement,” writes the Justice Department.
Ms. Bachmann frequently used her Twitter account to slam President Barack Obama and her rival presidential candidates while she was in the Republican primary race. Her reaction to the attempted attack on Capitol Hill was in line with the views she has expressed regarding national security in the past.
