Bachmann Stands By Widely Condemned Islamophobic Attack, Finds Ally In Glenn Beck

THINK PROGRESS

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is doubling down on her Islamaphobic attacks against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, even as a growing number of Republicans are repudiating Bachmann’s charges as “nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen.”

During an appearance on Glenn Beck’s radio show on Thursday, Bachmann reiterated her suspicions that Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, noting, “her late father who’s now deceased was a part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Her brother was a part of the Muslim Brotherhood, and her mother was a part of what’s called the Muslim Sisterhood.” Earlier this week, Bachmann accused Abedin of working on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood in a letter with four colleagues to the State Department’s Inspector General demanding an investigation.

“[D]id she have to go through the same sort of process that anyone else has to go to,” Bachmann asked. “Did they check the boxes…That’s all we’re doing is asking a question.”

Bachmann also tore into her colleague from Minnesota, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) — one of two Muslim Representatives in Congress — and complained that he is obstructing her request for an investigation into Abedin’s alleged connections to the terrorist organization:

BECK: Okay. So when you wrote this letter, then Keith Ellison comes out. And Keith Ellison is ‑‑ he has a record of being the Mafia hitman.
BACHMANN: Well, he has a long record of being associated with CAIR and with the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR is an unindicted co‑conspirator, as stated in the large terrorist financing case that we’ve had in the United States of America and so he came out and essentially wanted to shut down the inspectors general from even looking into any of the questions that we were asking. [...]
We’re asking that the inspectors general answer these questions, and Keith Ellison is trying to shut this, these questions down from getting addressed.

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Scott Brown (R-MA) have all condemned Bachmann’s charges, which some have suspected are being used for fundraising purposes.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) also condemned Bachmann’s remarks on Thursday, noting, “I don’t know Huma, but from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character. And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.”