'It’s like a self-own': GOP's Tom Cotton mocked over questions about domestic terrorism

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) attempted to own national law enforcement during a Senate hearing on Wednesday, but a national security expert doesn't think it worked out as well as he might think.

The Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with witnesses Scot Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Bill Burns, director of the CIA, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and FBI director Christopher Wray. At one point, Cotton asks Haines and Burns whether there is a larger threat to the American homeland from domestic threats or from people like ISIS and al Qaeda.

"In the context of terrorism," Cotton asked, "your conclusion is that racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists are a more lethal threat to Americans than ISIS or al Qaeda or Hezbollah?"

"The fact that it is the most lethal threat with respect to U.S. persons is something that we actually stated, I think, over two years ago in another report as well that similarly laid out these different issues, and it simply is a question of how many people, how many U.S. persons are killed or wounded as a consequence of attacks," Haines answered.

"Director Burns, do you agree that racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists are a more lethal threat to Americans than ISIS or al Qaeda?" Cotton asked again.

"I agree with, senator, with what director Haines just said, that if you measure this in terms of, you know, American lives lost or people who were wounded, I think those statistics bear that out," said Burnes.

Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday, former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, explained that a comment like this isn't the "win" that Cotton seems to think.

"What's really important here as you say, Nicolle, this is not like an assertion of an opinion," said Rhodes. "This isn't like an analytical forecast that this is a building problem. That's how it's framed on the right, that people on the left are trying to label them as something. You saw this at CPAC. There was kind of a bizarre display, we are all domestic terrorists, as if it was either a badge or honor or they were kind of making fun of this label. But the reality, the cold hard facts are that Americans are being killed and wounded by that form of extremism. And this is what's really important. It's not just simply that crime is happening. It is an ideologically supported movement that is fueling those racially and ethnically motivated acts of violence. Those acts of domestic terrorism. And you know, if you're looking from a national security perspective, you separate out violent extremism that leads to violence from other types of crime. And this is the facts that Avril and Bill are representing in the hearings. It's just this is what's happening. This is what's happening. It's like arguing with the weather or something. For Tom Cotton to think that's a gotcha moment for the intelligence community is kind of a self-owned in its own way."

See the full discussion below or at the link here.

Tom Cotton's self-own about right-wing terrorismwww.youtube.com