McKinney Staffer Claims He Was Fired for Being Jewish

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," August 17, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: In the wake of losing her congressional seat to challenger Hank Johnson, last week Cynthia McKinney supporters and staff erupted in violence and anti-Semitic rage outside of her campaign headquarters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mother (expletive deleted) crackers.

Go on in there. You got what you damn wanted. You got your Uncle Tom. Go put the cameras on him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ain't in Israel. This ain't no Lebanese people that's going to back on up. You're going to get your Jewish ass beat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: In light of this revealing video, our next guest has chosen to come forward. He maintains that he was fired from his job as a McKinney staffer just one day after revealing his Jewish heritage.

When contacted with this information, Congresswoman McKinney's office issued a blanket no comment.

Joining us now, former McKinney staffer, Michael Berwick, joins us.

Michael, that tape is very, very shocking, sad, and you know, what did you experience?

MICHAEL BURWICK, FORMER MCKINNEY STAFFER: John, after nine years it was that tape and watching Coz Carson on your show the other night that prompted me to come forward.

I went into Cynthia McKinney's office, a young, idealistic lawyer, committed to civil rights, committed to the Voting Rights Act, and quite frankly, we enjoyed a good relationship. We put on some wonderful presentations on the Voting Rights Act, the sunset provision, reauthorization.

HANNITY: But Michael, we don't have a lot of time. We've got to get to the bottom line here.

BURWICK: You got it, Sean. Bottom line is I did great work for her. She was thrilled. Drove her back and forth to the office. We had a wonderful relationship.

Came the Jewish holidays, the High Holidays, I revealed that I needed to take a day off to celebrate Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. The next day I came back and I was told that my position was defunded.

HANNITY: Are you going to sue her, and did you hear similar anti-Semitic remarks as we just heard while you worked in that office?

BURWICK: On the first question, Sean, no, I'm not going to sue her. First of all, I wasn't privy to the decision-making process. And as an attorney, I didn't feel that I had anything remotely resembling a case in court.

HANNITY: Did you hear anti-Semitic remarks in her office from her or anyone around her?

BURWICK: Sean, I heard the people around her and I heard Ms. McKinney vilify Israel, vilify Israel as an enemy nation, as a nation that was hell-bent on destroying other people. That kind of thing. The people that she surrounded herself with were of the same mindset.

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Hey, Michael, it's Alan. Welcome to our show. Were you the only Jewish staffer?

BURWICK: To the best of my knowledge, yes.

COLMES: Did she know you were Jewish before you took off for the holidays?

BURWICK: She did not. No, I never discussed my religious practices.

COLMES: Do you think the minute she found out you were Jewish, she then decided you weren't going to work there anymore?

BURWICK: Alan, I can't make that leap. All I know is that, immediately upon being told that my position was defunded, I received a call from a reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, asking me how I reacted to being fired or terminated or defunded because of the fact that I was Jewish. He had obviously received word from somebody in the office that was privy to those conversations, which I was not.

COLMES: You told Sean a moment ago she said things against Israel and things that they're an enemy state. But did you hear her say specific negative things about Jews — Jews this or Jews that, any comments like that?

BURWICK: Alan, her M.O. is very much as you saw it on election day. What she does is she stays within the framework of her position as a member of Congress and tries to make public policy statements against Israel.

And she surrounds herself with those, like the fellows you saw on the steps of her campaign headquarters, to come out and say what I believe, in my opinion, anyway, what she and her supporters really feel, which is that Jews are the enemy. Jews control the media. Jews control the banks. And it's just like the 1930s all over again.

And you know what, Alan? We have to say enough is enough. It's one thing that she's not going to be returning to Congress next year. I call for her resignation.

There's no place for this in American politics. It seems that the Jewish people are the last socially acceptable, politically correct folks that could be denigrated willy-nilly.

HANNITY: We'll bring you back with Coz Carson and let you debate it. I appreciate your time.

Watch "Hannity & Colmes" weeknights at 9 p.m. ET!

Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2006 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2006 Voxant, Inc. (www.voxant.com), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, LLC'S and Voxant, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.