The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim advocacy group accused by Ben Carson of being un-American, fired back at the retired neurosurgeon Tuesday.
“You’ve got a presidential candidate whose campaign is circling the drain and he’s doing anything he can do to spark some sense of relevance,” Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for CAIR told POLITICO. “Anti-Muslim bigotry worked for him in the past so he thinks it may work for him again.”
Carson on Tuesday criticized the president for allowing two members of CAIR to attend the address, saying that the organization was “not pro-American.” He was discussing a new foreign policy plan he released on CNN’s “New Day.” Two Democratic lawmakers—Zoe Lofgren of California and Alcee Hastings of Florida—will be bringing one representative from their respective state’s CAIR chapter, the organization announced Monday.
“At the State of the Union, we—they’ve invited members of CAIR, the Council for American-Islamic Relations. These are people who I have called for an investigation of. They have done things that are clearly, you know, not pro-American,” Carson said. “And we can’t now sit there and say these are buddy buddies of ours, let’s go ahead and investigate the thing.”
“If they are our buddies, let’s put that clearly out there. And if they’re not our buddies, let’s not be giving them access to the ability to further carry on what they call a civilization jihad and to change us from a Judeo-Christian foundation to a Muslim foundation. We have got to be smarter than that,” he continued.
Carson first called for an investigation in a policy proposal in December.
“The Department of State should designate the Muslim Brotherhood and other organizations that propagate or support Islamic terrorism as terrorist organizations, and fully investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and a supporter of terrorism,” Carson wrote in the proposal.
The Republican candidate and the group have a tumultuous relationship. CAIR slammed Carson after he said in September that he would not support a Muslim candidate for president unless that person denounced sharia law.
“It’s interesting that he calls the group that is defending the Constitution against his unconstitutional claim that there is a religious test for public office, un-American. It’s a bit bizarre but that’s the presidential campaign,” Hooper told POLITICO.