On the December 4 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, radio host Mark Williams, discussing the removal of six imams from a November 20 US Airways flight out of Minneapolis because of purported “suspicious activity,” stated the imams “are one of two things. ... They are either terrorists or they're trying to cash in on the politically correct lottery,” in that the imams could “get themselves thrown off the plane, and sue.” Williams added, “I don't see a third option here.” In arguing that there was an overreaction to the imams' presence, constitutional law attorney Michael Gross stated that since the terrorist attacks of 9-11 “we're all suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. ... And we ought to get a little braver, turn off the nightlight, stop being wimps, and live a full life.” Williams responded that “with all due deference to the lawyer who wants me to butch up, I'm sorry, but these people want us dead. ... I don't want this guy as my neighbor.” Later, after Williams noted there was an Arabic speaker on the flight, Gross sarcastically said, “My God, why not throw them off the plane while it's in the air? Isn't that sufficient cause?” Williams replied, “Wouldn't be a bad idea.”

As Media Matters for America previously noted, on the October 16 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, Williams baselessly asserted that immigrants -- “by and large, the illegal immigrants mainly” -- are “just here to rip off a piece and to get back to where they come from,” and added that they are “drug runners, human traffickers” and “people who engage in slavery and prostitution.” Williams later appeared to claim that U.S. possession of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) would force Spanish-speaking immigrants to learn English, declaring: “As long as we have the ICBMs, they can learn English.”

From the December 4 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

COLMES: For more on the developing controversy, we're now joined by radio talk show host Mark Williams and civil rights attorney Michael Gross.

Mark, I talked to one of the imams both on my radio show and again today, and much of what has been reported, Mark, is not true. They paid with credit cards. They all had round-trip tickets. Only two asked for seat extenders; they used them. They all took computer-assigned seats, except for one imam who had a seeing problem, and for that reason, he had to switch seats. Much about what has been reported is just not true here, and they did talk about being led out in handcuffs at one point, and having a police dog at one point as well. So we're playing a game of “he said, they said,” aren't we?

WILLIAMS: It's a vast xenophobic conspiracy against these six guys, Alan. I mean, what more do you need to -- you're getting into an aluminum tube to be at 35,000 feet at 500 miles an hour. You've got six guys praying to Allah, condemning the United States, invoking the name of bin Laden --

COLMES: They were not condemning the United States.

WILLIAMS: -- strategically placing themselves around the airplane, just identically to the 9-11 hijackers, and somebody drops a dime --

COLMES: But these were computer assigned --

[crosstalk]

WILLIAMS: -- and everybody around them is lying?

[crosstalk]

COLMES: Michael Gross --

WILLIAMS: See, here's what's happened. These guys are one of two things in my mind. They are either terrorists or they're trying to cash in on the politically correct lottery, get themselves thrown off the plane and sue. I don't see a third option here.

COLMES: Why would you go through that to get yourself thrown off -- Michael Gross, look, a lot of misinformation has gone out here. These were computer-assigned seats, except for the guy who was blind. They paid with credit cards --

GROSS: Look, we --

COLMES: -- on roundtrip.

GROSS: -- we all are lying, because we're all suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Since 9-11, this country is paranoid, and we're going nuts, and we're killing people because of it. We're frightened of everybody. We don't live a quality of life we had before. We're turning us into Baghdad and Beirut and Tel Aviv here. It is wrong, and we ought to get a little braver, turn off the nightlight, stop being wimps, and live a full life.

COLMES: Hey, Mark, I keep hearing that we're fighting these wars overseas --

GROSS: And secret police.

COLMES: -- to protect our religious freedoms, and yet when we have people expressing religious freedom, praying not on the plane but on the run -- outside the plane, people go crazy because they're --

GROSS: Because they're Arabs. Because they're Muslims. That's the only reason.

COLMES: But Mark --

[crosstalk]

GROSS: They're different. That's all. They're different.

WILLIAMS: You know, I -- I -- with all -- with all due deference to the lawyer who wants me to butch up, I'm sorry, but these people want us dead, and they're telling us -- I mean, I don't want this guy as my neighbor --

[crosstalk]

GROSS: They don't want you dead. There isn't any evidence of that whatsoever.

WILLIAMS: -- any of them walking through the window of my home. At what point do I call the police? At what point during the witnessing of a possible crime do you call the cops?

[crosstalk]

GROSS: There is no crime going on --

WILLIAMS: Do you wait until the plane flies into a building?

GROSS: -- there is praying going on.

WILLIAMS: You don't know that until you call a cop and sort it out, do you?

[crosstalk]

HANNITY: Excuse me, I know Alan spoke to one imam. He's free to believe them. I also spoke to a passenger that was on the plane, and I interviewed her extensively. When these guys were taken off the plane, the entire plane exploded in applause because they were happy they left. Here's where we --

GROSS: Yes, we're all nuts.

HANNITY: Everybody is nuts?

GROSS: Yes, we are.

HANNITY: Everybody's nuts?

GROSS: The country has been frightened into thinking that people who are praying are acting suspiciously.

HANNITY: So, so -- no, no, that's not --

[crosstalk]

WILLIAMS: What about the other Muslims who were on the plane? What about the Arabic speaker?

[crosstalk]

HANNITY: If you actually read the report --

GROSS: Arabic? They were speaking in Arabic? My God, why not throw them off the plane while it's in the air? Isn't that sufficient cause?

HANNITY: Michael, what the report said was there was heated --

WILLIAMS: Wouldn't be a bad idea.

HANNITY: -- repeated, angry exchanges.

GROSS: You hear what he just said, “Not a bad idea”?

HANNITY: Can I finish? Heated, angry exchanges, mentioning the U.S., mentioning Saddam, praying to Allah.

GROSS: Maybe they --

HANNITY: Asking for seat extensions they don't need, and changing their seats. That's suspicious behavior, Michael.

GROSS: That applies to you and us -- you and I tonight.

HANNITY: Listen, I buy one-way tickets --

GROSS: I'm suspicious about --

HANNITY: -- all the time. I get wanded more than --

GROSS: Right, right.

HANNITY: -- anybody in America -- right here -- because I usually buy a one-way ticket at the last minute.

GROSS: And thank goodness you don't, you won't --

HANNITY: You feel safer, don't you?

GROSS: -- you only agree with the administration position.

HANNITY: It has nothing to do with it --

GROSS: If you've got a hold of the --

[crosstalk]

WILLIAMS: You know, Sean -- Sean -- last time I got pulled off an airplane, it was at Dulles International Airport. And I thanked the guy the last time I got pulled out of line to be double-searched.

GROSS: Don't thank him.

WILLIAMS: And as far as believing the imam over everybody else in the picture, remember: Muhammad tells Muslims to lie when they are in defense of the faith.

GROSS: Oh, that's crazy. Sounds like the pope --

COLMES: We've decided they're liars --

WILLIAMS: If these guys are terrorists --

[crosstalk]

GROSS: Right, all Muslims are what?

WILLIAMS: -- if these guys are terrorists, then lying is a major tactic for them.

GROSS: This is a battle for hearts and minds, and we are losing it because you are making us paranoid.

COLMES: All right, thank you.

WILLIAMS: You're suicidal! You're like a sheik --

GROSS [brushes Hannity's jacket]: There's some polonium on there.

[crosstalk]

COLMES: Michael, thank you. Mark, we've got to run. We thank you.