Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) repeatedly declined to label the arson attack on his house a hate crime, saying in a new interview that such a designation would be up to prosecutors to make.
ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos pressed the governor about whether the attack was a hate crime, noting even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote a letter to the Justice Department this past week calling for the incident to be investigated as an antisemitic hate crime.
“I’m not sure it’s helpful for people on the outside to be weighing in with their opinions here, George, no matter who they are,” Shapiro told the anchor, in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week.”
Shapiro elaborated on his resistance to labeling the incident a hate crime.
“I know, as a former prosecutor, how important it is to follow the evidence and apply the law and to do so without fear or favor,” Shapiro said.
“In this case, I’m the victim of the crime. I’m not the prosecutor. The prosecutors will weigh all the different evidence, determine what the motive is,” he continued. “I think for me to dwell on that, to focus on that, is not my job.”
In Schumer’s April 17 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Democratic leader cited what he called the “deeply troubling allegations that the suspect targeted Gov. Shapiro based in part on his religious identity” and requested “immediate and serious federal scrutiny.”
Schumer wrote that the suspect allegedly set the home on fire, causing extensive damage while Shapiro’s family slept inside.
Schumer noted the timing of the attack during Passover and the suspect’s statement to 911 operators that he wanted to send the Pennsylvania leader a message about “what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” calling the governor “a monster.”
Shapiro, in the interview, condemned the rise in political violence and called on all leaders to unequivocally condemn incidents when they occur, regardless of which party is targeted.
“This is, sadly, a real part of our society today and it needs to be universally condemned, George. I don’t care if it’s coming from the left, from the right. I don’t care if it’s coming from someone who you voted for, or someone who you didn’t vote for, someone on your team or someone on the other team. I think every single leader has a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity and condemn this kind of violence,” he said.