Rep. Barbara Lee's history of defending convicted murderers resurfaces after Senate announcement

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Reports that Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., defended convicted murderers and claimed they were "framed" reemerged the day she announced her candidacy for the open Senate seat in California.

In 2001, Lee claimed that American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Peltier was "targeted" by the FBI after killing two agents because of his "regular presence and involvement in AIM activities throughout the country." Peltier and three other AIM members were sentenced for the 1975 murder.

Lee also suggested that convicted murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal was set up in the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer.

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Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., will run for the California Senate in 2024. (Tom Williams)

Lee and other Congressional Black Caucus members sent a report to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights claiming that in Abu-Jamal's case "neutralization occurred by falsely creating the appearance that he was in commission of a crime he did not commit, to put him in prison."

Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death for the killing of law enforcement officer Daniel Faulkner, reportedly shooting him several times after he pulled Abu-Jamal's brother over in an early morning traffic stop.

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Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder.

"Although no motive was ever shown for why Mumia would have killed a police officer, there was a certainly a motive to neutralize and frame him," the CBC report read.

Rep. Barbara Lee, center, currently represents California's 12th Congressional District. (J. Scott Applewhite)

The congresswoman has represented California's 12th District since 1998. Lee announced Tuesday she will be running for the California Senate in 2024 in an effort to "take on the climate crisis" and "stop these MAGA extremists."

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Lee will face off against California Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Katie Porter, D-Calif., who entered into the race ahead of current Sen. Dianne Feinstein's, D-Calif., retirement announcement.

Lee's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on this story.