Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, says Muslims need to be more aware during the Fourth of July holiday of people in their community who might be planning terrorist attacks.
"Yeah, well -- let me say, I am addressing it largely -- or certainly, to a large extent -- to, you know, the Muslim community in this region," King said discussing terror threats with local radio L.I. in the AM on Tuesday. "Because if there is a threat, if there is gonna be something happening, it's gonna come from the Muslim community."
CNN reported earlier this week that various U.S. law enforcement agencies are boosting security efforts ahead of the holiday weekend.
King said Muslims should be quick to alert things to the police if they see things out of the ordinary.
"So they among all others should -- if they see something, if they see someone who is new to the neighborhood, who they don't think belongs there, or it's unusual for him to be there or her to be there, if they hear of any talk of anything happening, if they see different groups gathering -- that, tell that to the police."
The Long Island Republican added "the rest of us" should look out for suspicious bags and comply with police instructions.
"The rest of us, it would be, if you see anything, you know, that looks like, you know, a bag or something, anything that looks suspicious, or -- and,or -- if you get a request from the police, to comply with it. Like, if the police say: 'Go this way, rather than that way,' don't be giving the cops a hard time. There'll be a reason for that, over the next several days."
King noted that five people have been arrested recently on terror-related charges in the tri-state area as a example of the "level or coordination" going on with ISIS.
"Also, I think one of the reasons why, you know, the notice was put out -- and I've, again, I've known about this for several weeks. I said nothing about it publicly until Friday, and that's when the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, went public. And the reason he went public is, as these arrests were being made, there were questions about why were these people being arrested? Were they lone wolves? Were they connected? I would just say that if you have five ISIS supporters arrested in New York, in the lead-up to 4th of July, that's not a coincidence. These wouldn't be lone wolves. There has to be a level of coordination, and there's more out there besides that."