Name: Oklahoma GOP chairman once appeared to call for Hillary Clinton's execution
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Oklahoma GOP chairman once appeared to call for Hillary Clinton's execution

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ShareA former state representative who has was recently elected chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party has a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and even joked about the execution of in a past post.John Bennett, a former Republican member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, was elected the chairman of the Oklahoma GOP on April 10. He beat Rogers County party activist Christine Leeviraphan, former state Rep. Charles Ortega of Altus, and Jenni White, a former teacher and outspoken critic of the Common Core curriculum for public schools, to clinch the chair.In November 2016, the same month as the U.S. presidential election, Bennett made inflammatory comments about the Democratic candidate.In a post containing a link to a blog criticizing Clinton for the deaths in 2012 of American officials in Benghazi, Bennett, at the time Oklahoma legislator, wrote: "2 words ... firing squad."Bennett deleted the post, telling The Oklahoman it was "sarcasm." But he then went on to accuse Clinton of treason, which is punishable by death."She has committed nothing less than treason by leaving fellow Americans to die in Benghazi," he said at the time."If anyone else had done that they would be charged with treason and thrown under the jail at a minimum, and a firing squad likely."A photo circulating on social media also purports to show Bennett with his family posing with guns.The lawmaker has been criticized in the past for having a hard-line stance against Islam.In a 2014 town hall meeting, he said the Islamic faith and world's second-largest religion "is a cancer in our nation that needs to be cut out." He has also accused Muslims of trying to gain world domination and destroy Western civilization.In 2016, Bennett hosted an interim legislative study to examine the threat "radical Islam" posed to the state, despite organized opposition from religious leaders.Bennett also claimed that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil liberties group, was a terrorist organization.Newsweek has contacted the Oklahoma GOP and Bennett for comment.More legislators in the state have been accused of inciting racial hatred.Last week, Jim Olsen, a Republican who represents Sequoyah county in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, compared lawmakers' attempts to end abortion to the fight against slavery."This is a cause of even greater import because it deals with innocent, unborn life," Olsen said."The context that I was addressing, that none of us would like to be killed. None of us would like to be a slave. If I had my choice, I guess I'd be a slave. At least a slave has his life. Once your life is gone, it's gone," he later said, defending his comments.The comments, which he deemed "historically appropriate," were made during a meeting of the House Public Health Committee on April 7 while the committee was considering several anti-abortion bills., orVSCHOOSE YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONPREMIUMDIGITAL+ Ad FreeNEWSLETTERBEST OF NEWSWEEK VIA EMAILJoin half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters

ShareA former state representative who has was recently elected chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party has a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and even joked about the execution of in a past post.John Bennett, a former Republican member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, was elected the chairman of the Oklahoma GOP on April 10. He beat Rogers County party activist Christine Leeviraphan, former state Rep. Charles Ortega of Altus, and Jenni White, a former teacher and outspoken critic of the Common Core curriculum for public schools, to clinch the chair.In November 2016, the same...

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Oklahoma GOP chairman once appeared to call for Hillary Clinton's execution

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