White House attests 'rise in hate' despite Biden pitch as 'unity' president

A senior White House adviser on Sunday acknowledged a "rise in hate" amid increased attacks against Jewish and Asian Americans, despite President Biden's message of “unity" early in his administration. 

Richmond did not address an explanation for the increase in anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish people seen in the U.S. amid the Israel-Palestinian conflict. He did tout that the Justice Department under the Biden administration is focused on rooting out "homegrown violent extremists."  "The rise in hate, period, has been something that this administration has been focused on from the beginning, whether it's AAPI hate that came from COVID-19 and the dangerous rhetoric that we heard or whether it's anti-Semitic violence, we're concerned about one, homegrown violent extremists and we're worried about the increase in hate," Richmond told CNN host Dana Bash.  "And we've been talking about it for a while. So we have a Justice Department. That one, is independent, but two that is focused on the rise in hate crimes. It's important," he added.