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PBS lawyer says kids growing up in Trump era to be put in 'reeducation camps', fired after Project Veritas sting

'We go for all the Republican voters, and Homeland Security will take their children away. … We’ll put them into the reeducation camps,' principal counsel for the Public Broadcasting Service, Michael Beller, is heard saying in the clip

A PBS staff attorney was fired after Project Veritas posted a video of him calling for children of Republicans to be put in “reeducation camps” and “go to the White House and throw Molotov cocktails” if the 2020 election results did not turn out in favor of President-elect Joe Biden. 

Project Veritas, which is a far-right activist group founded by James O'Keefe, which is committed to using undercover techniques to reveal supposed liberal bias and corruption, posted the secretly recorded video on January 12. “We go for all the Republican voters, and Homeland Security will take their children away. … We’ll put them into the reeducation camps,” principal counsel for the Public Broadcasting Service Michael Beller is heard saying in the clip to one of the group's disguised operatives. 

“They’re nice,” Beller added. “They have Sesame Street characters in the classrooms, and they watch PBS all day. Kids who are growing up, knowing nothing but Trump for four years, you’ve got to wonder what they’re going to be like. They’ll be raising a generation of intolerant, horrible people — horrible kids." He then suggested that people should “go to the White House and throw Molotov cocktails” in the event Biden didn’t win the election in November. He also likened President Donald Trump to "Hitler."

He also seemed to tout the fact that coronavirus was affecting the red states where the president saw high approval, saying people won’t go to the polls to vote for Trump. “What’s great is that COVID is spiking in all the red states right now. So that’s great. Because either those people won’t come out to vote for Trump, you know the red states or a lot of them are sick and dying,” Beller said. “Americans are so f---ing dumb. You know, most people are dumb.”

Trump supporters soon flocked to the comments section to express their outrage at Beller's comments. "Man, this is scary. I just hopes Trump comes through otherwise Civil War is just inevitable," one of them said, while another commented, "Absolutely abhorrent and I condemn this !! How can people call Mr T when this kind of thing is being spoken of!" A third remarked, "Wow..... this is sick. These people should be removed from society. People like a Michael Beller. What a joke. When did evil and lunacy take over. Sick sick world we live in!!!!!! #pbs #ExposePBS #Unbelievable." 

One more added, "This 'lawyer' should be disbarred. Nothing about U.S. law aligns with his crazy ranting." Another quipped, "Although I knew about people like this, it’s really scary to hear them say these things. President Trump needs to come through for all of us. I just Joined Twitter, I was one of the many that was purged last week."

PBS confirmed to the Washington Examiner later Tuesday that Beller no longer worked for the organization. "This employee no longer works for PBS. As a mid-level staff attorney, he did not speak on behalf of our organization, nor did he make any editorial decisions. There is no place for hateful rhetoric at PBS, and this individual’s views in no way reflect our values or opinions. We strongly condemn violence and will continue to do what we have done for 50 years – use our national platform and local presence to strengthen communities and bring people together," a PBS spokesperson said.