Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday that the U.S. is in the process of designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Speaking to Sid Rosenburg of "Sid and Friends in the Morning," Rubio was asked about the support that New York Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is getting from groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
"Why wouldn't you guys designate the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR? I just – I look at these organizations, I have a mayor's race here in New York City with this psycho, this lunatic Mamdani. Both of these groups you know are behind him, especially the Muslim Brotherhood. Is that something you think we can count on maybe in the near future? Maybe not CAIR just yet, but certainly the Muslim Brotherhood?" Rosenberg asked, referring to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"Yeah, all of that is in the works," Rubio responded, "and obviously there are different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, so you'd have to designate each one of them."
Rubio noted that the formal process is lengthy and the government needs to be very thorough in their investigation, but that steps are being made. "We are constantly reviewing for groups to designate for what they are: supporters of terrorists, maybe terrorists themselves, whatever it may be. We haven't done this in a long time, so it's — we've got a lot of catch-up to do. And you've mentioned a couple names, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, that are of grave concern," he added.
Last week, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., urged the Internal Revenue Service to investigate CAIR and their tax-exempt status over concerns of the Muslim advocacy group's ties to terrorist organizations and cited the Muslim Brotherhood as one of them.
In a letter sent to IRS Commissioner Billy Long and first obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, Cotton cited "longstanding evidence" of CAIR's ties to terror groups Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. "CAIR purports to be a civil rights organization dedicated to protecting the rights of American Muslims. But substantial evidence confirms CAIR has deep ties to terrorist organizations. In fact, in the largest terrorism financing case in U.S. history, CAIR was listed as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine committee," Cotton wrote.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.