
Former Obama aide Stuart Seldowitz was arrested and released on Thanksgiving Day (November 24th) for committing a hate crime against a NYC halal cart vendor in NYC. Filed as two charges of stalking as a hate crime as well as the additional charge of aggravated harassment, his verbal attacks on 24-year-old halal vendor Mohamed Hussein in the Upper East Side quickly went viral following their release.
Between November 7th and 19th, Seldowitz went after Hussein four separate times according to the charges. Just before taking a photo of his victim, Seldowitz said “Tell me why I should go. I’m standing here, I’m an American. It’s a free country – it’s not like Egypt. Did you rape your daughter like Mohammed did?”
Telling Seldowitz he didn’t speak English only made the former Obama aide more enraged. “You don’t speak English? Ah, that’s too bad. That’s why you’re selling food in a food cart – cause you’re ignorant. But you should learn English, it’ll help you.”
Along with the charges, Seldowitz was also slapped with an order of protection by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on behalf of Hussein.
For someone to take this long to show their colors is incredible. Employed as a senior police officer with the US State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestine Affairs during the early 2000s, he was employed under five different presidents. His pinnacle came during the Obama administration. There he served as the National Security Council chief. Since then, it’s been a slow fall from grace.
Harassment like this cannot be tolerated in this country. So far, Seldowitz has taken limited responsibility for his outbursts but significantly downplays what he said. Instead, he has tried blaming it on being said because he was wrapped up in the moment, and failed to think about it. So refreshing to know that one of Obama’s former people has to think to stop himself from being racist. Wish his old boss had tried that.s