While calling for profiling of American Muslims, Fox News host Eric Bolling attacked Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), calling him the “Muslim apologist in Congress” and describing him as “very dangerous.”
On Fox News' The Five, Bolling called for profiling of Muslims following the attacks of the Boston Marathon. During the segment, Bolling criticized Ellison, asserting that he's “very dangerous” and has been “the Muslim apologist in Congress for a long time.” After calling him dangerous, Bolling noted that Ellison “raised his right hand and took the oath of office on the Quran”:
Bolling's attack is part of a long line of smears directed at Ellison. Fox host Sean Hannity attempted to link Ellison to Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam. Hannity also compared Ellison's use of the Quran for his swearing-in ceremony to using “Hitler's Mein Kampf, which is the Nazi bible.”
During Rep. Peter King's anti-Muslim hearings in 2011, Ellison delivered testimony which included attacking false rumors that had been spread about Mohammed Salman Hamadi, a first responder who died during the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Fox attacked his testimony, suggesting his story was not accurate and accusing him of stretching the truth.