During a 9/11 memorial podcast, Representative Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican, compared the Biden administration to former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
Monday marks the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City, in which two commercial airplanes were used to bring down the World Trade Center buildings, killing nearly 3,000 people. The attack was carried out by Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization that was founded and led at the time by bin Laden. Following an extensive, years-long search, bin Laden was ultimately located at a compound in Pakistan and killed by a team of Navy SEALS.
On Monday, Norman appeared on a 9/11 remembrance podcast hosted by former Donald Trump adviser and far-right political advocate, Steve Bannon. Norman, who has represented South Carolina's 5th Congressional District since 2017, has been noted for his staunch conservatism, with the website GovTrack ranking him as the most politically right-wing member of the current U.S. Congress. During the appearance on Monday, the congressman made comments while discussing government spending likening President Joe Biden and his administration to bin Laden in terms of destructive influence.
"At some point, we've got to make a stand...but government's not going to do it on their own," Norman said. "And Osama bin Laden, he did his part to destroy it from the air, and the internal bureaucrats are doing their part to destroy it from the inside, unfortunately," he added. "And the Biden administration is front and center stage."
In a statement to Newsweek, Norman's office expanded on and clarified his comments.
"He means that Bin Laden sought to destroy the U.S. from the outside," a spokesman for the congressman wrote. "And given what we're seeing from this administration – like record levels of illegal immigration, dramatic inflation, crippling national debt, a demoralized military, a weakened America on the international stage, weaponization of the DOJ, woke policies spewing from every bureaucracy – Biden seems to be writing the playbook for how to destroy America from within."
Norman previously made headlines when text messages he made to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the wake of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot came to light. In a text 11 days after the attack, and three days before Biden's inauguration, Norman urged then-President Trump to invoke Martial Law in response to false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
"Mark, in seeing what's happening so quickly, and reading about the Dominion law suits [sic] attempting to stop any meaningful investigation we are at a point of no return in saving our Republic!!" Norman wrote. "Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! [sic] PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO."
In a statement previously provided to Newsweek, Norman said that the message had come from a place of "frustration."
"Obviously, Martial Law was never warranted," the statement read. "That text message came from a source of frustration, on the heels of countless unanswered questions about the integrity of the 2020 election, without any way to slow down and examine those issues prior to the inauguration of the newly elected president."
Updated 09/11/2023, 6:53 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from Rep. Norman's office.
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