Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel became a hero to the left when he blasted the NRA during CNN’s anti-gun town hall.
But now he is in hot water.
That’s because he made a career-ending statement in one bizarre interview.
Sheriff Israel appeared on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
His interview came in the wake of bombshell revelations that the Broward County deputy who was at the high school during the shooting stayed outside the building and did not confront the killer.
Israel knew this when he appeared at the anti-gun town hall where he blamed the NRA for the massacre.
He was also forced to answer for the fact that his department was called to the gunman’s home 39 times and failed to take action.
He was called to account for smearing gun owners and hiding the fact that his office dropped the ball and could have prevented this unspeakable tragedy.
Instead, Sheriff Israel claimed he showed “great leadership.”
Breitbart reports on the exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper:
“TAPPER: Are you really not taking any responsibility for the multiple red flags that were brought to the attention of the Broward Sheriff’s office about this shooter before this incident, whether it was people near him, close to him calling the police?
ISRAEL: I can only take responsibility for what I knew about. I exercised my due diligence. I’ve given amazing leadership to this agency.
TAPPER: Amazing leadership?
ISRAEL: Yes, Jake. There’s a lot of things we’ve done throughout this — this is — you don’t measure a person’s leadership by a deputy not going in to — these deputies received the training they needed.”
In an interview with Breitbart, Michelle Malkin detailed the multiple instances Israel’s department fell down on the job.
Breitbart reports:
“Malkin listed several incidents and calls since 2016 in which the conduct of Nikolas Cruz was brought to the attention of the Broward Sheriff’s Office:
It’s disgusting. The CYA campaign that [Scott Israel] has been waging all day long. First, by releasing the log of all the phone calls, and the details, it’s astonishing how specific and credible each and every one of these phone calls was, and you see the very specific threats that Nikolas Cruz had leveled — not only repeatedly against his classmates and the school — but also details about how he had held a gun up to his mom’s head. When you combine that with the transcripts that the fishwrap of record — from when they did something useful — the transcript of the FBI tipster from January that Nikolas Cruz had been imbibing gasoline, that he had cut himself numerous times, that he was rubbing his hands in glee thinking of the inheritance that he was going to get as a result of his adopted father dying. Honestly, it makes me really question the circumstances of his mother’s death and given how incompetent the local law enforcement was, I wouldn’t be surprised if they open a new investigation into the pile of other open investigations they have now.”
Israel is trying to deflect blame and hope his support for gun control will allow the media to give him a pass and not mount a pressure campaign to remove him.
He is claiming calls for his resignation are “political.”
But after his interview, Florida lawmakers began demanding Florida Governor Rick Scott remove him from office.
Do you think Sheriff Israel should resign after he smeared gun owners and his department failed to stop the Florida shooter?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
