Charlottesville Car Attack Was Faked, Brooklyn State Senator's Aide Says: Report

BROOKLYN, NY — An aide to a Brooklyn state senator reportedly suggested to a constituent that the deadly car attack two weekends ago in Charlottesville was faked by a supporter of Hillary Clinton.

Darlene Leder, the Albany director of operations for Sen. Simcha Felder, disputed the facts surrounding the death of Heather Heyer when contacted by a constituent, Kings County Politics first reported.

Leder emailed the constituent with a link to an article from the right-wing conspiracy website News Punch, which claimed the attack was carried out by a Clinton supporter who was funded by investor George Soros.

"When I read the article I was totally shocked," Eliana Meirowitz Nelson, the constituent, told Kings County Politics. "It was so much further off the deep end than I’d even guessed."

A spokesman for Felder referred Patch to the comment given to Kings County Politics.

"I don’t agree with her [Leder] email and I don’t know why anyone would send anything from such a crazy website. I will discuss my dissatisfaction with her shortly," Felder told the website. "I, as well as any decent human being, deplore any form of racism, nazism, anti-Semitism and white supremacists. I was also upset by some of Trump’s comments, but I don’t think he should be impeached."

Felder represents several Central Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Kensington and Sunset Park (full district map here.)

The exchange started last Friday when Nelson called Felder's office, asking why he hadn't commented about the rally in Charlottesville, which involved neo-Nazis and KKK members, and President Trump's response to it.

Felder is a Democrat but caucuses with Republicans, giving them a majority in the state senate. Nelson is a member of NY State District 17 for Progress, which hopes to run a Democratic primary challenge against him in 2018.

"While she (Leder) was very friendly, when I asked her why Felder hadn’t said anything against Nazis and white supremacists, she said she didn’t understand why it was necessary," Nelson told Kings County Politics. "Trump had already spoken out against it and was very clear. I strongly disagreed with her and gave a few examples of how Trump’s condemnation was equivocating and that there is no indication that he is anti-Nazi at all. I told her even Paul Ryan was speaking out against what Trump said."

Click here to read more from Kings County Politics.

Image via NY State Senate