Rep. Michele Bachmann says terrorist influence is alive and well in the United States, with the radical Muslim Brotherhood having disturbing clout on national policy.
"I would love President Obama . . . [to] designate the Muslim Brotherhood — the mother of Islamic jihad — a terrorist organization," Bachmann said Wednesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"Also to put in place the tools that our State Department needs to stop American citizens from entering the United States if they have joined up with Islamic jihad," Bachmann said.
But a bill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, which Bachmann says she introduced six weeks ago, faces an uphill battle, she said.
"There's a high hill that we have to overcome because the Muslim Brotherhood has enjoyed a political presence in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill and in the White House," she said.
"There is influence here on Capitol Hill from the Muslim Brotherhood. Those are not unfounded assertions . . . Federal courts have already found that there are Muslim Brotherhood charities that are supporting terrorism.
"[Former] Vice President Dick Cheney said to us yesterday in Washington in a meeting with the House Republicans that the Muslim Brotherhood . . . is the umbrella, it's the mother of all of these Islamic jihad organizations."
Bachmann, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said the nation has already been infiltrated by terrorists.
"There are those who are not only sympathetic but who are members of the Islamic jihad," she said, adding that Americans who renounce their citizenship to join terror groups must be dealt with swiftly.
"They shouldn't be allowed to freely re-enter the United States. It's madness. Sitting on the Intelligence Committee for two years, we have been following the rise of ISIS, the Islamic State. This is not new to us.
"The FBI told me . . . there were two Minnesotans who had joined up with the Islamic State. I asked the FBI, if they choose to return to Minnesota, will they be allowed to? The FBI responded yes, they will, they're American citizens. My jaw dropped."
She said federal agents informed her that the men in question would be put on a watch list.
"That cannot be. We need to get a brain in the United States and wake up because the Islamic State has been very clear about their intention. That's why they call themselves the Islamic State," Bachmann said.
"The American people deserve to have the right to feel safe and secure and protected in our communities and in our homes."