A longtime aide to Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) was the host of a radical anti-cop podcast where guests praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, accused Jews of exploiting the black civil rights movement, and called police "slave catchers" who should be "abolished."
Tiffany Henry—an anti-police activist who has served as Baldwin’s Milwaukee office director since 2017—repeatedly boasted about her influence on Baldwin’s policies on the Revolution Ready Radio show, in between calling to "defund" law enforcement and slamming Wisconsin as a "police state."
"By day, I work for Senator Tammy Baldwin," Henry said in one episode in 2021. "So this [police reform legislation] is something that is near and dear to my heart, and pushing internally. [Baldwin is] very supportive of it, continuing to push it, and will vote ‘yes’ for it when it comes time for it."
In another episode, Henry took credit for convincing Baldwin to ask the Department of Justice to investigate the Wauwatosa Police Department for civil rights violations. The department had previously arrested Henry while she was participating in anti-police protests in 2020.
Records show that Baldwin did send a letter to the DOJ in July 2021 requesting a "federal civil rights investigation of the Wauwatosa Police Department’s practices" and whether the police "targeted individuals because of their race." There is no indication the DOJ ever pursued an investigation.
The news raises questions about Henry’s influence on Baldwin’s law enforcement policies. The Democratic senator, who is facing a tough reelection race against Republican businessman Eric Hovde, has sought to distance herself from the "defund the police" movement. Last month, Baldwin ran an advertisement that featured Wisconsin sheriffs defending her border policies.
Henry’s podcast, Revolution Ready Radio, aired over a dozen episodes in 2021, some of which are still available on YouTube. The Baldwin aide hosted radical guests, including online influencer Umar Johnson, an anti-Semitic black nationalist who has spread conspiracy theories about gay people and Jews. During his appearance on Revolution Ready Radio, Johnson criticized desegregation and accused Jews and Latinos of exploiting black people through civil rights activism.
"Every group that has ever sought to build a coalition with black people have always used black people, whether it was the Latinos, the European Jews," Johnson said. "They all used us, and then they left us once they got what they want, and they're still doing it today."
Johnson, a former school counselor, said he became concerned about school integration after his teaching supervisor—whom he described as a "European Jew"—allegedly misdiagnosed several black students with ADHD.
"Desegregation was not about multiculturalism. Desegregation was about making sure black people cannot undermine the American white power structure with a power structure of their own," he said on the podcast. "It was about the liquidation of the black dollar to the benefit of white power."
Johnson has a long history of anti-Semitic comments, dating back years before his appearance on Henry’s show.
"I didn't participate in your Holocaust, European Jew, but you damn sure participated in mine," Johnson said during a 2015 speech in Reno, Nevada. "You was [sic] the primary financier of most of the slave ships."
During another episode of Henry’s podcast, Milwaukee activist Ramel Smith praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as "articulate" and "charismatic," arguing that the controversial leader was silenced by the media because he was "getting too much power."
"If Minister Farrakhan wanted to tear America up, this man’s got a Nation behind him, there’s a mosque in every major city. And if he give the word, they're gonna go [march]," Smith said. "So when [people] be hating on Farrakhan, I say he’s probably your best friend."
Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam preach an anti-Semitic and anti-white doctrine that calls Jews the "Synagogue of Satan" and white people "blue-eyed devils."
During the podcast, Smith also defended terrorist attacks against Israel, suggesting that similar violence is in store for the United States.
"For those who are not really hip to it, Palestine had all this land. Then these other people started coming in, the Jews," Smith said. "Slowly but surely [the Jews] start taking over the land."
"Now you got the Palestinians who want to fight back, and [Israel is] like ‘These guys are terrorists, they’re thugs,’" he added. "But [Palestinians] said all we doing is what we call self-defense, all we're doing is protecting what’s ours, you're trying to occupy us.’"
Smith compared this to the position of the black community in the United States.
"What you think gonna happen in America?" he said. "You keep pressing the people down in the face of adversity, well then what do we do?"
Henry responded, "Exactly … they’re gonna fight back."
On Henry’s podcast, she and her guests repeatedly denounced the law enforcement system as racist and called for its defunding or abolition.
"Wisconsin is a police state," said Henry in one episode. "We live in this country where things have not been on the right side for us, but I believe in a day of reckoning."
One guest, Milwaukee activist Kamila Ahmed, said on the show that she had a "festering hatred in my soul now for the police."
"They slave catchers," said Ahmed. "We need to abolish them. I'm sorry, y'all, I'm on Team Abolish now."
"We not gonna judge nothing," Henry reassured her.
On the same episode, Henry said there was "no reason" to comply with police because officers were going to harm black people no matter what.
"People are conditioned to want to comply [with police], because they think if you don't comply the worst is going to happen," said Henry. "But the worst is happening when you do comply. So it’s like, now there’s no reason."
Legislative records show Henry earned around $78,000 last year while working for Baldwin.
A spokesman for Baldwin told the Washington Free Beacon that the podcast does not reflect Baldwin's views.
"Tiffany Henry is not, nor has ever been, an authorized spokesperson or a policy adviser for the Senator and the comments made do not reflect the Senator’s position," Baldwin's spokesman Eli Rosen said. "Tammy Baldwin supports funding, not defunding, the police and has brought tens of millions of dollars home to police and sheriff departments across Wisconsin."
Baldwin's office also told the Free Beacon that Henry has been formally reprimanded over the podcast and has participated in ethics training.