U.S. media is reporting that new Congressional legislation contains a report recommending that the Attorney General sever its ties with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as the FBI has already done. According to a Daily Caller report:
The Fiscal Year 2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill, which passed the House on Wednesday, contains in its Committee Report (a separate public document that spells out how agencies are expected to spend the money allocated to them) a recommendation that Attorney General Eric Holder follow in the FBI’s footsteps and sever ties with CAIR:
Liaison partnerships.—The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case in which the Holy Land Foundation was found guilty of material support of a terrorist organization. The committee acknowledges the attorney general’s refusal to attend certain meetings knowing that CAIR officials would be present, as indicated in testimony before the committee on February 28, 2012. The committee understands that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has an existing policy prohibiting its employees from engaging in any formal non-investigative cooperation with CAIR. The committee encourages the attorney general to adopt a similar policy for all department officials.
In January 2009, the FBI ended its relationship with CAIR and its affiliates across the country due to the conviction of those involved in the Holy Land Foundation terrorist funding trial, in which CAIR was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator. Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf, the bill’s sponsor, explained to The Daily Caller that with the FBI’s policy already in place it makes sense for DOJ to follow suit. ‘The FBI has that policy now, and I think it’s a good policy — they were an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case. We also commend the attorney general for not meeting with them,’ Wolf said. ‘We think it ought to be a policy. If the FBI has that policy, I think the entire Justice Department should have it.’ The DOJ declined to comment about the recommendation, though Wolf explained that they will likely apply the policy. (RELATED: Full coverage of the Justice Department) ‘I expect they will comply [with the recommendation],’ Wolf said. ‘I’d be surprised if they didn’t comply.’
A post from 2009 reported on the state of relations between the FBI and CAIR, characterizing them as having no formal contact.
Documents released in the Holy Land Trial have revealed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as identifying the organization itself as being part of the US. Brotherhood. A recent post discussed an interview with the Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in which he confirms a relationship between his organization and CAIR. Investigative research posted on GMBDW had determined that CAIR had it origins in the U.S. Hamas infrastructure and CAIR and its leaders have a long history of defending almost all individuals accused of terrorism by the US. government, frequently calling such prosecutions a “war on Islam.” In 2009, a US federal judge ruled “The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas.”