MONSEY, N.Y. -- Handwritten journals containing anti-Semitic references were found in the home of the man charged with federal hate crimes Monday in the stabbing of five people celebrating Hanukkah at a rabbi's house north of New York City, authorities said.
Grafton Thomas, 37, was held without bail after appearing in federal court in White Plains on five counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon and causing injuries in the Saturday attack. Authorities said a blood-stained 18-inch machete was recovered from his car.
The bearded Thomas, his ankles shackled, shuffled into the courtroom in a prison jumpsuit, telling a judge who asked him if his head was clear that he was "not clear at all" and needed sleep. But he added: "I am coherent."
His court-appointed attorney, Susanne Brody, said Thomas has issues with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
The stabbings on the seventh night of Hanukkah came amid a series of violent attacks targeting Jews in the region that have led to increased security, particularly around religious gatherings.
President Donald Trump on Monday publicly thanked a Fox News guest who said that Democratic leaders in New York need Trump's help to combat anti-Semitic violence.
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Trump's comments on Twitter came in response to an appearance by Dov Hikind, a former New York state assemblyman and founder of Americans Against Antisemitism. Hikind asserted that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, are not doing enough to protect Jews living in the state, as evidenced by Saturday's knife attack.
"I think we need the federal government," Hikind, a Democrat, said during the Fox & Friends interview. "I hate to say this, but de Blasio and Cuomo need the help of President Trump. This in an epidemic that is happening, these acts of anti-Semitism. Out of control, and the leadership is not dealing with it."
Trump, a Republican, referred to the interview later Monday morning in a tweet, writing: "Thank you to highly respected Jewish leader Dov Hikind for his wonderful statements about me this morning on foxandfriends."
During the interview, Hikind also claimed a double standard for hate speech directed at Jews, contending that some high-profile Democrats in Congress are "indulging in hate speech" and getting away with it.
"The hate, the anti-Semitism that emanates from within the left, you don't hear anything," Hikind said. "You hear very little. Anything that comes from the other side, it's all -- I mean, even the mayor of the city of New York has continued to call the hate 'coming from the right.' All the hate in New York is coming from the left."
In a Fox News interview on Sunday, de Blasio lamented "an atmosphere of hate" that he said has developed in recent years and noted, "A lot of it is emanating from Washington."
Meanwhile, a criminal complaint in the Saturday stabbing said journals recovered from Thomas' home in Greenwood Lake included comments questioning "why ppl mourned for anti-Semitism when there is Semitic genocide" and a page with drawings of a Star of David and a swastika.
A phone recovered from his car included repeated internet searches for "Why did Hitler hate the Jews" as well as "German Jewish Temples near me" and "Prominent companies founded by Jews in America," the complaint said.
On the day of the stabbings, the phone's browser was used to access an article titled: "New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here's What To Know," the complaint said.
Defense attorney Michael Sussman told reporters he visited Thomas' home and found stacks of notes he described as "the ramblings of a disturbed individual" but nothing to point to an "anti-Semitic motive" or suggest Thomas "intentionally targeted" the rabbi's home.
"My impression from speaking with him is that he needs serious psychiatric evaluation," Sussman said. "His explanations were not terribly coherent."
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Thomas' family said he was raised to embrace tolerance but has a long history of mental illness, including multiple hospitalizations.
"He has no history of like violent acts and no convictions for any crime," his family said in a statement. "He has no known history of anti-Semitism and was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races. He is not a member of any hate groups."
In a release, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said Thomas "targeted his victims in the midst of a religious ceremony, transforming a joyous Hanukkah celebration into a scene of carnage and pain."
William Sweeney, head of New York's FBI office, said the possible life prison sentence that the federal charges carry "for this type of attack are severe and justified."
Information for this article was contributed by Ryan Tarinelli, Jim Mustian, Larry Neumeister and Michael Balsamo of The Associated Press; and by John Wagner of The Washington Post.
A Section on 12/31/2019