Newt Gingrich blames Chicago torture video on Obama's failure to 'oppose black racism'

Donald Trump adviser and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday suggested that President Barack Obama was to blame for a rise in hate crimes because he had failed to "oppose black racism."

During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Gingrich linked Obama's presidency to the news that four black men had been detained in Chicago for allegedly torturing a disabled white man.

"I think a lot of their language, a lot of their approach heightened that sense of racial tension," Gingrich said of the Obama administration. "And I think we have to oppose white racism, we also have to oppose black racism."

"And I think if this had been done to an African-American by four whites, every liberal in the country would be outraged and there would be no question that it's a hate crime."

According to Gingrich, President-elect Donald Trump is trying to avoid "having the deep bitter division in the community that makes America very hard to govern."

"I think people feel that they're really alienated from their government and have no one to turn to," he opined. "And you end up with this really kind of destructive and, I think, frightening kind of development."

Watch the video below from Fox News, broadcast Jan. 5, 2016.