Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
allegedly grabbed a reporter by the arm in order to communicate “a threat of
physical violence” in the course of an interview that went south during the
presidential campaign.
“I’ve never experienced anything
like this in my career from an American public official,” Buzzfeed’s Michael
Hastings, author of Panic 2012: The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of
Barack Obama’s Final Campaign, said on Current TV.
“He grabbed me by the arm and
wouldn’t let go while his bodyguards approached me. And clearly trying to
intimidate me with a threat of physical violence. It was abusive.” Hastings
provided Current with audio of the conversation.
The interview seems to have
gotten out of hand when Emanuel grew angry at Hastings for saying “we’ll see” if
Obama was worth reelecting — at least, that’s where the tape Current played
begins.
“What’d you say to me?” Emanuel
asked. But the conversation immediately turned to an issue of whether Emanuel
had insulted Hastings and of ground rules for the interview, with Emanuel
seeming to oppose being videotaped for the
interview.
“I’m not going to let you do to
me what you did to Stanley McChrystal,” Emanuel said in an allusion to the
Rolling Stones profile of McChrystal that Hastings wrote which led to the
general’s resignation over disparaging comments made about President
Obama.
“I didn’t do anything to Stanley
McChrystal,” Hastings replied. “You guys shouldn’t have escalated in
Afghanistan. Four Americans died this week there,
buddy.”
Hastings said he considered
filing assault charges against Emanuel, but the altercation took place in “his
city” and legal action would have distracted from Hastings’ other
work.
“It’s a very revealing moment of Mayor Rahm
Emanuel,” Hastings said on Current. “He’s obviously a high profile public
official. He’s notorious for this kind of abusive, bullying behavior and he
get’s away with it, again, again, and again.” Washington Examiner
DT/DT
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