Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel lashed out at critics and made a series of inaccurate or misleading claims during a Wednesday town hall on hate crimes and extremism in West Bloomfield Township, where she defended her handling of pro-Palestinian protesters and vowed to aggressively pursue new cases tied to the movement.
Nessel’s 16-minute talk marked her most expansive public defense of her decision to prosecute University of Michigan protesters and ultimately to drop the charges after facing months of backlash from civil rights groups, students, and progressives within her own party. But in her remarks, Nessel falsely described a news story, mischaracterized criticism from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and took unsubstantiated swipes at fellow Democrats.
“So much of everything that happened in this case involves antisemitism at levels and areas that frankly I have not seen before,” Nessel, the state’s first Jewish attorney general, said.
She singled out The Guardian for what she called “really inaccurate” coverage and falsely claimed that the newspaper suggested a “Jewish cabal” was behind her prosecution of protesters. In reality, the article — written by veteran Michigan journalist Tom Perkins — never mentioned such a conspiracy. Instead, it outlined Nessel’s close political and financial ties to U-M regents who pressed for criminal charges after local prosecutors declined to act.
After watching a video of Nessel’s talk, Perkins defended his reporting. “Here’s @MIAttyGen Dana Nessel claiming I reported that ‘the Jews’ and the ‘Jewish cabal’ were behind her unprecedented involvement in the u-m protest cases,” Perkins wrote on social media. “My investigation revealed her extensive personal/financial/political connections to the regents.”
Obv these are the ramblings of a person who just got drubbed in court. See my investigation that says nothing about cabals herehttps://t.co/n9jX79GCiN
— Tom Perkins (@PomTerkins) May 9, 2025
Perkins, a Metro Times contributor, added, “Obv these are the ramblings of a person who just got drubbed in court. See my investigation that says nothing about cabals here.”
According to that report, six of eight regents donated more than $33,000 combined to Nessel’s campaigns, one co-chaired her 2018 run for attorney general, and her office later hired his law firm for state work.
Nessel said the cases were not the result of “Jewish influence” but rather because U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell was the one who brought the cases to her attention, a claim that people close to Dingell vehemently deny.
“It was not the Jewish cabal … It was Debbie Dingell,” Nessel said. “It’s not unusual for a congressional representative to call up the Department of Attorney General and say, ‘I’m really worried about what I see as criminal activity occurring.’”
Dingell declined a request for comment, but sources close to her say no such conversation ever took place.
Records also show it was Nessel’s office that first offered assistance to U-M. In a May 2024 letter to the university’s general counsel, the attorney general’s office wrote, “Because the DAG has state-wide criminal authority to bring charges, we are ideally situated to review any potential cases.”
Nessel insisted the prosecutions were based on actions, not beliefs.
“We don’t charge people based on their cause,” she said. “We charge people based on their actions, and that action has to be criminal in nature.”
She criticized the judge overseeing the dismissed cases for refusing to issue rulings on key motions and for considering a request to disqualify her office. Nessel claimed the motion, which was filed by a defense attorney, was part of a broader attack on her identity.
“And yet the first Jewish attorney general in the state of Michigan — the motion said — could not be fair to these defendants because they were pro-Palestinian activists,” she said.
Nessel also criticized Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, based on a story published by Metro Times. In an interview, Tlaib raised concerns about Nessel’s role in the case, pointing out that Nessel hadn’t brought charges in similar cases involving other protesters and questioned whether political bias influenced the decision. Legal experts echoed those concerns.
Nessel repeated Tlaib’s concerns about bias after the attorney general suggested months ago – without evidence – that the congresswoman had made antisemetic statements in the past.
But Tlaib never mentioned Nessel’s religion. In comments to Metro Times, the congresswoman said Nessel hadn’t brought charges in similar cases involving other protesters and questioned whether political bias influenced the decision. Legal experts have echoed those concerns.
Nessel also complained that the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor was being “investigated” by the court for submitting a public letter of support for her prosecution of pro-Palestinian protesters, calling it “horrifying.”
“Now we’re at a point where the Jewish attorney general is being investigated. The Jewish Federation is being investigated. Everyone is on trial except for the defendants,” Nessel said.
The attorney general portrayed the protesters as violent, saying some “threw tables and chairs at police” and refused to comply with orders to clear the encampment, which she said was surrounded by chicken wire and deemed a fire hazard by local officials.
Her description stood in stark contrast to accounts from civil rights attorneys, who have argued that many students were peaceful and that the police response was disproportionate. Attorneys representing students also pointed out that other protests, including sports celebrations that damaged property, did not result in similar prosecutions.
Civil rights activists have said Nessel’s disproportionate attention to pro-Palestinian protest cases raises fears of political targeting.
In April, Nessel’s office carried out a series of controversial raids targeting nine pro-Palestinian activists, seizing electronics and DNA samples without filing charges. Critics called the raids politically motivated.
Despite dropping the original charges connected to the protests, Nessel made clear she would not back down from pursuing future cases tied to pro-Palestinian activism, particularly alleged vandalism.
“Here me when I say that I plan to vigorously pursue charges in those very serious cases,” Nessel said. “And if there is another attempt to remove me from the cases because a Jewish prosecutor can’t possibly be fair in prosecuting criminal conduct, then I am willing to fight and I will take it all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to.”
Her remarks drew resounding applause from the crowd.
“This should not be a signal that I’m not going to be a tenacious advocate on behalf of law and order,” Nessel said. “I’m not expected to be a neutral party. I’m an advocate on behalf of crime victims.”
