Biden ally claims Trump greater 'threat' to US than al Qaeda

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A Democratic insider and vocal ally of the Biden administration claimed last week that former President Trump and "Trumpist extremists" are a bigger threat to the United States than the Taliban and all the al Qaeda fighters combined.

David Rothkopf, who is frequently retweeted by White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, tweeted, "The Taliban, all of them together, plus every Al Qaeda fighter in the world, do not pose the threat to the United States that Trump or Trumpist extremists do.  Let's maintain our perspective."

Rothkopf, a Daily Beast contributing columnist and the CEO of The Rothkopf Group, an interactive media and advisory firm, has written several columns heaping praise on the Biden administration, which has gotten the attention of Klain. His columns also attacked Republicans, including one earlier this year that said the Republican Party is the "party of thugs, terrorists, racists and dopes."

During the first 93 days of the Biden administration, Klain retweeted Rothkopf 36 times and tweeted out at least four of his columns, sometimes multiple times, Politico reported. In April, Klain tweeted out Rothkopf's column about Biden's America Jobs Plan, calling it a "very sharp piece." Klain has also retweeted Rothkopf multiple times over the last few days for his tweets praising the Biden administration for "mounting an impressive rebound from initial setbacks" in Afghanistan.

Klain and Rothkopf, who both worked in the Clinton administration, had been interacting with each other for several years on Twitter prior to the 2020 campaign. In December 2017, Klain thanked Rothkopf for his praise of one of his quotes and his public service, saying he was "looking forward to more of" Rothkopf's "spot-on analysis of world affairs in 2018!"

Klain isn't the only Biden aide who has retweeted Rothkopf or shared his columns. White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates, senior adviser Neera Tanden, White House Rapid Response Director Mike Gwin and several other aides have shared his tweets praising the administration, according to a Fox News analysis.

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In addition to writing pro-Biden columns and praising the administration on Twitter, Rothkopf donated over $3,000 to Biden's 2020 presidential campaign and the Biden Victory Fund between August and October last year. He also donated $1,000 to Kamala Harris' senate campaign in 2018 and thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton's failed 2008 campaign and President Obama's campaign in 2012.

In an email to Fox News on Wednesday, Rothkopf acknowledged that the "Taliban and Al Qaeda are among the most vile, dangerous violent extremist organizations in the world" and that they "pose a threat that must be taken very seriously and actively combatted." However, he doubled down on his tweet and claimed they do not "pose an existential threat to the United States or our way of life" like Trump and his supporters do.

"Trump and his supporters have, with support of one America's most dangerous enemies, actively sought to undermine democracy in America. The coup attempt on January 6th and the propagation of the Big Lie are an example of this," he said. "Their efforts to suppress the vote are an example of this. Trump's active obstruction of justice is an example of this. Should they succeed, democracy in America will be gutted, our way of life end, our values undermined and our standing in the world destroyed. They may yet succeed. As a consequence the threat they pose is far greater to the United States as a whole."

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Rothkopf continued by mentioning the hundreds of thousands of deaths from COVID-19 last year and claimed, "No terror group could ever hope to achieve such a level of damage" from Trump's "mishandling of COVID" and "ignorance and self-serving spread of lies." 

The White House did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.