‘Disturbing’ Hitler exchange shows Charlottesville Nazis are using their trial to ‘recruit and proselytize’: expert
Some neo-Nazis on trial for their role in the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville aren't even pretending to mount legal defenses, according to Raw Story's Jordan Green.
Appearing on MSNBC's Deadline: White House on Thursday, Green was asked about a courtroom exchange Wednesday between Christopher Cantwell, who is representing himself in the case, and fellow neo-Nazi Matthew Heimbach, who was called as a witness by plaintiffs.
As Cantwell cross-examined Heimbach, the pair spent "nearly an hour talking about their adoration for Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, the dictator's book Mein Kampf, and their belief that the Holocaust was a hoax," according to a report from BuzzFeed News.
Calling the exchange between Cantwell and Heimbach "a frick-and-frack show of Hitler love," MSNBC host Jason Johnson asked Green why U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon even allowed it.
"I think the judge is deferential to the two defendants, Richard Spencer and Chris Cantwell, who are defending themselves, in the sense that he gives them a lot of latitude because they are not lawyers, more than he would lawyers," Green responded.
Green, who is covering the trial for Raw Story, called the exchange between Cantwell and Heimbach "disturbing."
"I don't think that this judge recognizes the real-world implications," Green said. "And I say that in the sense that Mr. Cantwell is not putting forth a legal defense, so much as he's using the courtroom as a platform to proselytize and recruit for white nationalism."
Johnson responded by saying, "That is the most dangerous part about giving some of these people this opportunity."
Watch below.
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