Muslim Brotherhood Spends Big to Keep Congress From Labeling Them Terror Group

The Muslim Brotherhood has a new campaign – a $5 million campaign – and it involves convincing Congress, via a concerted and costly public relations drive, to keep the group off the Foreign Terrorist Organization list.

Currently, Congress is mulling passage of the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act, H.R. 377, requiring “the secretary of State to submit a report to Congress on the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization, and for other purposes,” the text states.

It was introduced on January 9 in the House by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Florida, as well as in the Senate, by Sen. Ted Cruz, and cosponsored on both sides by several other Republican members of Congress.

But the Muslim Brotherhood is fighting back. And they’re confident their campaign to keep off the terrorist list is going to be a success. Why? In part, because of influences tied to Hillary Clinton.

As the Clarion Project reported:

“A senior Muslim Brotherhood official in Sudan told an Arab newspaper* that the group’s international leadership has launched a major PR campaign to influence the U.S. media and members of Congress to oppose the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

“The Brotherhood official predicted that the group would not be designated by the Trump Administration and that the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act introduced into Congress would fail.

“He claimed that his organization had made contact with governmental officials and members of Congress and convinced them that the Brotherhood is opposed to terrorism, even though the Brotherhood’s Palestinian wing—Hamas—is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department.

“The author of the article reports that, according to sources within the Brotherhood, the group has spent $5 million on the PR campaign, with contracts being signed last month. Individuals close to Hillary Clinton put Brotherhood officials in touch with PR firms.

“The effort to influence American media included having articles and essays published to argue against designation of the Brotherhood.

“Indeed, a slew of articles defending the Brotherhood were published as it was reported that the Trump Administration was planning to designate the Brotherhood. Most of these argue that the Brotherhood is opposed to terrorism and violence.”

Egypt’s government has also reportedly warned of a concerted Muslim Brotherhood lobby power in the United States, masking as civil society groups.

Again, from the Clarion Project:

“An Egyptian government website cited a study done by a think-tank in Cairo that concluded that the Brotherhood is trying to influence U.S. policy using affiliates in America that “aim to spread the Muslim Brotherhood’s extremist ideologies in the U.S.,” in the words of the website.”