CNN's Don Lemon suggests Texas synagogue hostage-taker suffering from 'mental illness,' ignores terror link

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Media top headlines January 18

In media news today, CNN’s Paul Begala says Democrats don’t have ‘bad leaders,’ they have ‘bad followers,’ CDC Director Rochelle Walensky admits to poor messaging on COVID guidance, and Spotify remains silent after Joe Rogan critics call for change to prevent COVID ‘misinformation.’

CNN host Don Lemon appeared to suggest that the British national who was killed after allegedly taking four people hostage inside a Texas synagogue was suffering from "mental illness," despite the FBI determining it to be a terrorism-related matter.

During a segment on his show Monday, Lemon discussed the incident with former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and the Anti-Defamation League president Jonathan Greenblatt, none of whom made mention of the suspect's ties to a convicted terrorist who was referenced repeatedly during negotiations.

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Paraphrasing a segment from a survivor of the incident, Lemon said he believes the public consensus is that people who promote anti-Semitic tropes are not "necessarily racist. They’re just repeating ignorant things."

"But," he continued, "when some who may be unstable or has some mental issues, it becomes real, and they act. These tropes are incredibly dangerous in that regard."

CNN host Don Lemon appeared to suggest Sunday that the British national who was killed after allegedly taking four people hostage inside a Texas synagogue was suffering from "mental illness." (Theo Wargo)

McCabe, now a CNN law enforcement analyst after he was fired by former President Trump, agreed telling Lemon that the FBI warning Tuesday night of similar attacks "is yet another sad and tragic aspect of this wave of violence that mentally disturbed people who are maybe leaning in that directions sometimes see things like this happen like this that can act as an inspirational moment or a trigger moment to set them in motion."

Malik Faisal Akram, the identified hostage-taker, spoke "repeatedly" about a convicted terrorist during negotiations with law enforcement, according to a FBI statement obtained by Fox News.

Akram could be heard on a Facebook livestream demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al Qaeda who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan. The Associated Press pointed out that Siddiqui is serving her sentence in Fort Worth. Colleyville is about 15 miles northeast of the city.

"This is a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted, and is being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force," the FBI statement read.

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COLLEYVILLE, TEXAS - JANUARY 16: All four people who were held hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue have been safely released after more than 10 hours of being held captive by a gunman.  (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Greenblatt explained that "wild conspiracy theories that defame or delegitimize the Jewish people or the Jewish state are part now of the public conservation in ways that I think are terrifying."

But, he added, taking an apparent jab at Lemon, "I don’t have the luxury of writing this off though it was a deranged person."

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The hostage crisis occurred at the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Saturday and ended at about 9 p.m. Police did not say who shot Akram, and said the incident was under investigation. 

The investigation stretched to England, where late Sunday police in Manchester announced that two teenagers were in custody in connection with the standoff.