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Lawmakers Denounce Calls to Probe Islamic Group for Intern Spying

Back in Washington, a group of lawmakers representing three minority caucuses is denouncing a Republican proposal to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, on allegations its sending spies into congressional offices. Four Republican lawmakers called for the probe after a recent book called Muslim Mafia accused CAIR of planting spies posing as congressional interns. The only verified intern spying to come out of the book is that of the co-authors son, who posed as a convert to Islam and worked as an intern in CAIRs Washington offices. Speaking on the House floor, Congress member Keith Ellison of Minnesota read a statement from the Congressional TriCaucus.

Rep. Keith Ellison: These charges smack of America sixty years ago, where lists of un-American agitators were identified. We should be affirming the importance of diversity and tolerance for all interns and staff who serve in Congress, without suspicion of being identified as spies. The idea that we should investigate Muslim interns as spies is a blow to the very principle of religious freedom that our Founding Fathers cherished so dearly.