On Friday’s The O’Reilly Factor on FNC, host Bill O’Reilly interviewed liberal civil rights attorney Bartle Bull about the Justice Department’s recent decision to drop charges against Black Panther members who engaged in voter intimidation in Philadelphia polling place last November. Bull – who worked for both Robert F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter – was an eyewitness to some of the intimidation, and charged that Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision not to pursue the case was "100 percent politically motivated."
Below is a complete transcript of the interview from the Friday, May 29, The O'Reilly Factor on FNC:
Story Continues Below Ad ↓BILL O'REILLY: "Impact" segment tonight, last election day, a group of New Black Panthers, that's the group, in Philadelphia were charged with intimidating voters. Apparently, a few of these men brought weapons to the polling places, generally menaced people there. Some of it was caught on camera.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE BLACK PANTHER MEMBER: I'm just wondering why everybody's taking pictures, that's all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE WITH CAMERA: Okay, I mean, I think you might be a little bit intimidating that you have a stick in your hand. That's why.
BLACK PANTHER MEMBER: Who are you to decide?
MAN WITH CAMERA: I mean, that's a weapon. So that's why I'm a little worried.
BLACK PANTHER MEMBER: And who are you to decide?
MAN WITH CAMERA: I mean, I am a concerned citizen. I'm just worried that you might be-
BLACK PANTHER MEMBER: So are we.
MAN WITH CAMERA: Okay.
BLACK PANTHER MEMBER: So are we. That's why we're here.
MAN WITH CAMERA: Okay, but you have a nightstick in your hand.
BLACK PANTHER MEMBER: So what?
MAN WITH CAMERA: I mean.
BLACK PANTHER MEMBER: You've got a camera phone.
MAN WITH CAMERA: I have a camera phone, which is not a weapon.
O'REILLY: All right, federal authorities charged three Black Panthers with various election violations. But this week, those charges were dropped by attorney general Eric Holder. Some are not happy about it. With us now, civil rights lawyer Bartle Bull, who once ran Robert Kennedy's New York campaign for President and Jimmy Carter's as well. So you're an old liberal, right?
BARTLE BULL, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: I'm an old liberal.
O'REILLY: Attorney?
BULL: I would say a John Kennedy Democrat. And I was a civil rights lawyer in Mississippi for a time. And I am a liberal.
O'REILLY: And that's interesting, because you are leading the charge here against these Black Panthers. Now what did you see yourself on election day? What did you see?
BULL: I saw two armed uniformed threatening men blocking the door to a polling place, screaming rudeness at voters.
O'REILLY: What was their intent?
BULL: I can't answer for what was between their ears.
O'REILLY: Well, what were they screaming, though?
BULL: I heard, well, one of them, for example, screamed, "Now you will see what it is like to be ruled by the black man, cracker."
O'REILLY: Okay, did they have their Black Panther regalia on?
BULL: They wore jack boots, black boots, black combat boots, black paramilitary uniforms, black berets.
O'REILLY: All right, so they were intimidating as this young man who photographed them said. You concur with that assessment?
BULL: Oh, absolutely.
O'REILLY: And how many were there?
BULL: There were two at the place I was. I was at seven different polling places. At this place, there were two.
O'REILLY: All right, so you made your report.
BULL: Yes.
O'REILLY: And the federal government, the U.S. Attorney filed charges against three people. Now the charges have been dropped. Now we called Holder's office. And they said, here's what basically, this is not a quote, ladies and gentlemen, but here's basically what they said: It's just not big enough for us, it's not that important, we're letting it go. And you say what?
BULL: I think it's extremely important. I've worked in very difficult campaigns in Mississippi. I worked for Charles Ables when he ran for governor as the first black man. I was a civil rights lawyer in Hattiesburg who got arrested there practicing civil rights law. I worked against Strom Thurmond in South Carolina. I have never in my life, and I've seen nooses over trees outside polling places where I stopped voting in Mississippi. I have never, ever seen anyone blocking the door to a polling place with a weapon and yelling at people.
O'REILLY: All right. Now, if there are only three of them, is it worth the federal government's time and money to put them away?
BULL: Of course it is. Of course it is. The senior lawyer working on this matter, Christian Adams, said to me if this is not a case of intimidation, nothing is. Intimidation is Section 11 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That act was the keystone of all the civil rights legislation fought for and passed by the Kennedy's, Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King.
O'REILLY: Okay, theoretically you're right. And, I mean, if I were the Attorney General, it'd have to be compelling evidence for me not to prosecute the case. And it doesn't seem to be. You are a, certainly a very good witness. Certainly a non-prejudicial witness based upon your background. So, all they have to do is call you in, the guy who took the shots there and a few other people, and they have a conviction. So, then, we go to the why of the matter. Do you have any idea why Holder has no desire to pursue this?
BULL: Yes. But first of all, they did have a conviction already, because what happened was.
O'REILLY: Well, but it's not a criminal conviction. It's you got to stay away from the polling place thing.
BULL: No, no, sir. Look, I'm a lawyer. The point was that none of the defendants even answered the charges. So all the feds had to do-
O'REILLY: They didn't even show up?
BULL: No. So all the Feds had to do was to let the case go to completion. And they were automtically.
O'REILLY: Guilty.
BULL: Automatically guilty.
O'REILLY: Right.
BULL: So that was stopped.
O'REILLY: So they didn't do it. Why?
BULL: Why? Well, you haven't mentioned one thing. You said there were three defendants. That's not true. The first defendant was the New Black Panther Party itself which has been called a hate organization by the Anti Defamation League and by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The critical thing here wasn't whether these two or three guys were enjoined. It was enjoining the party which has 28 chapters around the country.
O'REILLY: All right, that's interesting.
BULL: So what they've done here is they're protecting the enforcement of what this party might have done. And it's going to give them a lot more authority in the next election, in the congressional election.
O'REILLY: I'm not sure about that, but why doesn't Holder want to go after this whole scenario? Why doesn't he want to make examples of these people?
BULL: Because these are his supporters, partly.
O'REILLY: You really believe it's politically motivated?
BULL: 100 percent, 100 percent-
O'REILLY: -because the New Black Panthers is so fringe and so, you know.
BULL: 100 percent politically motivated.
O'REILLY: Really?
BULL: Absolutely.
O'REILLY: You believe that?
BULL: Yes.
O'REILLY: See, that would be something a Rush Limbaugh would say.
BULL: Well, I'm not a Rush Limbaugh.
O'REILLY: That's for sure. Because that's why I'm surprised that you would say it. How do you know that?
BULL: We're making judgments. We don't know it, but the fact is that they want to maximize their vote. This is basically ACORN vote that they want to ... the next election..
O'REILLY: This gets tied in with ACORN?
BULL: I didn't say that. I said what they want to do is to maximize the ACORN vote. And you do that by not challenging this sort of procedure, because these are the same people who are registering voters. Also, "The New York Times", for example, said hundreds of thousands, one-third of all ACORN board voters were fraudulent last time.
O'REILLY: Right. All right, so you see it as a bigger picture -
BULL: Oh, of course, of course.
O'REILLY: -don't interfere with the community activist group?
BULL: Of course.
O'REILLY: You know, if it's true it, it reflects very poorly on the President and his administration.
BULL: Yes.
O'REILLY: Now, let me ask you one more question. If what you're saying is true, it's only going to become an issue if the media drives it.
BULL: Yes, sir.
O'REILLY: I don’t think you're going to get-
BULL: So do you.
O'REILLY: That's right. And that's why you're here.
BULL: And I believe-
O'REILLY: Has the Philadelphia media picked up on this at all?
BULL: I don't know. I believe not much.
O'REILLY: CNN, are they on it?
BULL: I don't know.
O'REILLY: NBC?
BULL: I don't know. You know more about that than I do.
O'REILLY: Well, nobody called you for from those organizations?
BULL: No, no.
O'REILLY: Okay, so you.
BULL: I believe that President Obama owes the country an apology for this. And I will say why briefly in an sentence.
O'REILLY: But he didn't have anything to do with it.
BULL: He appointed Eric Holder. And the president said four or five weeks ago that he believed that we should prosecute civil rights cases vigorously. And he's really talking about the ones who are on his side. I mean, if I may say, Martin Luther King did not die to have people in jack boots with billy clubs, block the doors of polling places.
O'REILLY: Absolutely.
BULL: And neither did Robert Kennedy. It’s an absolute disgrace.
O'REILLY: You're absolutely right. All right, Mr. Bull, what I want you to do is pursue the case, as obviously you're angry about it and you want justice done. Pursue the case. Let us know what happens.
BULL: All right.
O'REILLY: We'll assist you. Because we want Holder to tell us why he dropped it. That's a pretty easy question. I think that's a fair question.
BULL: I hope they will, too. I hope they will, too.
O'REILLY: All right, counselor. Thanks very much for coming in.
BULL: Pleasure.
—Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Comments Policy
Sheesh, those weren't Black
June 3, 2009 - 06:00 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsSheesh, those weren't Black Panthers, they were Obama's fellow Community Organizers! This was all a misunderstanding, so Holder fixed everything and dropped charges, just like with ACORN, the Muslim assassin who just murdered a soldier, etc. We will soon be seeing these Community Organizers at every voting booth.
Bartle Bull, I hope you have an overseas residence.
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
Charles Evers
June 3, 2009 - 06:08 ET by CpickeringI believe it was Charles Evers (rather than Charles Ables) that was the first black man to run for Governor of Mississippi.
Mr. Bull just nailed it.
June 3, 2009 - 11:06 ET by TailgunnerThe Black Panthers weren't as much about intimidating voters outside the polling places as they were the poll workers who might challenge fraudulent voters illegally registered by ACORN.
There you have it, folks...the first Obama brownshirts.
And Holder, acting on Obama's orders, has just allowed them to escape justice for the first organized attempt to disenfranchise American citizens since Jim Crow.*
During Jim Crow the Klan ran rampant because the system of justice was either sympathetic or actively involved in the terror.
Plus ca change....
*I forgot the military absentee ballots Democrat attorneys tried to throw out in Florida's 2000 Presidential election. Sorry.
NOLO PUGNARE ME OCCIDERE
This is one brave man.
June 3, 2009 - 06:20 ET by ekslibWe are lucky to have people like him.
I've said it before and it
June 3, 2009 - 07:02 ET by nadadhimmiI've said it before and it bears repeating: Holder is Obamas Himmler. No way in hell is Obama gonna prosecute a fellow muslim, or black revolutionary because they are doing his grunt work for them. There will be shootings at polling places next cycle, which the usurper will decry, even as his boys are the ones doing it.
The New Order
June 3, 2009 - 07:54 ET by GalvanicThe nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, and the dropping of this slam-dunk civil rights case against the New Black Panther Party are giving us the first signs of what "social justice" means in this new Administration.
ACORN knows that while some states have and will prosecute the ACORNites who committed voter registration fraud, they have nothing to fear from Eric Holder and the Justice Department.
Especially with the National Census pending next year, where ACORN and union volunteers can be expected to do their usual bang-up job.
Obama's Big Government will protect and reward its friends and bludgeon or intimidate its opponents.
Black Panther Voter Intimidation
June 3, 2009 - 08:11 ET by SemusDo the Black Panthers actually think the President of the United States is a ruler. Is that what they're looking for? I don't remember ever being taught our President was our ruler. What a bunch of losers. This would be funny if it wasn't for the fact that the man this country elected thinks of himself as a ruler also.
We may be in for a long dark period.
I believe for the most part
June 3, 2009 - 08:38 ET by Dan The Man 2I believe for the most part a lot of people think of the government of ruling. They have no power so the people in power are rulers. Its easy to get into that mode of thought, and when you are in an echo chamber with thousands shouting the same it only reinforces your thoughts.
I mean who among us has not felt powerless against the government and felt trampled upon and there was no redress?
Long dark period coming up
June 3, 2009 - 08:43 ET by sevenThe Panthers were defending against a white strawman. They planned on many angry whites coming to polls and interferring with blacks that needed a black Pres. This was all in their imagination. They were the intimidators and the ones with threatening conduct. I think this may not be over and i think Holder embarrassed himself.
Checking voters
June 3, 2009 - 10:17 ET by echojackSo let me get this straight. This combined with the Georgia ruling means:
1. You can't check the SSN and driver's license to see if a person is legally qualified to vote, and
2. Anyone wanting to vote, or even just stand in front of the polling place, can carry a weapon without fear of prosecution.
This could add a lot more to the excitement of the election process.
A nightstick in the hand...
June 3, 2009 - 12:52 ET by Tailgunner...does not beat a 62gr steel-cored .223 round at 3100fps <strong> in the ear</strong> from 200 meters.
I routinely make such shots.
(At least until Obama and Holder start letting them call in ACAV assets.)
NOLO PUGNARE ME OCCIDERE
What Obama giveth with one hand he taketh away with both hands.
200 meters??
June 3, 2009 - 12:54 ET by Sergeant ROCKWhere's the fun in that? Ever heard of hold your fire until you see the white of their eyes? At which point I raise my S&W Model 19 .357 to meet the threat...
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
Even the swordsmen relied on the archers...
June 3, 2009 - 12:58 ET by Tailgunner...to thin out the ranks for them. : )
NOLO PUGNARE ME OCCIDERE
What Obama giveth with one hand he taketh away with both hands.
Touchy feely
June 3, 2009 - 13:02 ET by Sergeant ROCKWell, that's why a Remington 30.06 makes good sense in that situation.
Btw.. do you know why a New Black Panther holds a pistol sideways?
....
Because that's how he got it out of the box.
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
I'm not too sure that that kind of scum have ever seen...
June 3, 2009 - 13:09 ET by Tailgunner...the boxes guns come in.
Burglars probably don't spend a lot of time looking for them. : )
NOLO PUGNARE ME OCCIDERE
What Obama giveth with one hand he taketh away with both hands.
Glad they weren't at ...............
June 3, 2009 - 18:42 ET by armedcitizenOur voting place. I never leave home without my .45, my wife never leaves home without her 9mm, and we sure as hell brought them to our voting place.
This will make for interesting future elections indeed.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
He was hired by the democratics!
June 3, 2009 - 11:59 ET by slickwillie2001Also not well publicized, -the fact that the New Black Panther was there as an official poll watcher, hired by the democratic party: Official Document Shows New Black Panther was Representing Democratic Party: http://www.weaselzippers.net
This is an important piece of information because it shows that Holder's department was in effect democratics investigating democratics, and that's why the case was dropped. We might also wonder what pressure the Black Panther put on Holder's department to drop the case. Did he threaten to reveal higher-ups' crimes?
Welcome to
June 3, 2009 - 13:18 ET by Ten7sWelcome to "Change"!
Aren't you Obama voters proud of what you've done?
I respect Mr. Bull...he's
June 3, 2009 - 22:44 ET by RR GOPI respect Mr. Bull...he's not a Kool-Aid drinker and worked to right some serious wrongs back in the day and applies the same standards to all extremists.
But, I wonder if Mr. Bull and many others back in the '50s and '60s realized that it was largely the Dixiecrats who were responsible for the oppression of African-Americans in the Deep South...and if so, have any ever admitted it?
The Democratic party has always been about widening social, political and economic gulfs between people of different races, circumstances, religions and political views. Divide and conquer, and enact a neo-Feudalism where they are the masters of social fiefdoms-because, doggone it, they are smarter, more enlightened and know better than mere mortals.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).