'PATHETIC': Ex-Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett dodges DAMNING question about Keith Ellison

Sarah D | 6:59 PM on February 13, 2018

A few years back, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison and Louis Farrakhan sat down together at a dinner in Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s honor:

In September 2013, however, Messrs. Ellison and Farrakhan dined together. The occasion was a visit by Iran’s newly elected President Hassan Rouhani to the United Nations. Mr. Rouhani invited Muslim leaders from around the U.S. to dinner after addressing the U.N. General Assembly. Contemporaneous news reports placed Mr. Farrakhan at the dinner. Unreported by mainstream outlets was the presence of Mr. Ellison, along with Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York and Andre Carson of Indiana. (All three are Democrats; Messrs. Ellison and Carson are Muslim.)

The Nation of Islam website documents the event, noting that Mr. Rouhani “hosted the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Muslim leaders from different Islamic communities and members of the U.S. Congress at a private meeting . . . at the One UN Hotel in Manhattan Sept. 24, 2013 across the street from the UN headquarters.” The Final Call, a Nation of Islam publication, added that “ Keith Ellison of Minnesota . . . participated in the dialogue” after dinner and includes photos of Messrs. Farrakhan and Ellison at the tables. The Michigan-based Islamic House of Wisdom also reported on the meeting, with additional photos.

Also:

According to Mr. Farrakhan, the 2013 meeting was not the last time he and Mr. Ellison were together. After Mr. Ellison renewed his denunciation of Mr. Farrakhan in 2016, Mr. Farrakhan stated in an interview that Reps. Ellison and Carson had visited him in his Washington hotel suite the preceding summer.

Well, earlier today, Weekly Standard freelance writer Jerry Bier (who also wrote the WSJ piece quoted above) wondered if some of Barack Obama’s favorite people had anything to say about Ellison and Farrakhan’s dinner date:

Curious if @keithellison had the blessing of the @BarackObama admin to attend the 2013 dinner given by Iran's @HassanRouhani in New York. Any comment @JohnKerry, @jonfavs, @jonlovett, @TVietor08, @danpfeiffer? https://t.co/TJ9y1lWQUv

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) February 13, 2018

Former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett must’ve figured he could dodge the question by snarkily playing the Islamophobia card, because that’s basically what he did:

Well the goal was to get all the muslim decoder rings together so yeah it was sort of planned. https://t.co/PG7gbtUmtx

— Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) February 13, 2018