Hearings to examine the Muslim brotherhood network in America.

Good afternoon. This hearing is called to order. This hearing is focused on hidden in plain sight, confronting the Muslim Brotherhood network in America. You may notice that there are empty chairs on the Democrat side of the dais. The American people should ask themselves why not a single member of the minority decided that a hearing on terrorism was worth their time. It is an embarrassment and a disservice to the thousands of American victims of the Muslim Brotherhood, including most recently the dozens of Americans who died on October seventh at the hand of Gaza's Muslim Br- Brotherhood branch. Hamas. Beginning in the nineteen nineties, America has endured a litany of terrorist attacks that we must never forget. The first World Trade Center bombing. The Khobar Towers bombing. The East Africa embassy bombings. The bombing of the USS Cole. And of course, September eleventh. Yet as America prepares to confront Muslim Jihadist terrorists overseas, a different challenge was already emerging, one that did not seek to conquer America through military force, but through a long-term influence campaign from within. In nineteen ninety-one, the Muslim Brotherhood drafted what became known as the explanatory memorandum. discovered by FBI investigators in two thousand four in Annandale, Virginia, just across the river from where we sit today. The memorandum described what it called a quote " civilizational jihadist process" in North America. And it explained that process in unmistakable terms. It declared that the brotherhood's work in America was quote, "A grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers." But the memorandum did not stop at simply describing an objective. It also explained how to get there. It called on the brotherhood to quote, master the art of coalition building and to quote, " absorb, contain, and cooperate with the existing Islamic organizations in order to advance its mission in North America." History has taught Americans the danger of dismissing determined Jihadist movements because their ambitions seem too extreme to be real. The present members of this subcommittee will look at two questions. First, how the Muslim Brotherhood built its network in America. And second, what that network looks like today. The Muslim Brotherhood spawned Hamas, influenced the ideology of Al-Qaeda, and gave rise to multiple terrorist organizations. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and now the United States have all designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. One of President Trump's most important national security accomplishments and the culmination of a decade-long effort that I've been proud to lead in Congress through repeated legislative measures. But what is less known is the Muslim Brotherhood's network right here in the United States. In two thousand eight, the Holy Land Foundation, then the largest Muslim charity in America, was convicted on one hundred and eight counts of funneling money to Hamas, laundering funds and tax fraud. Five of its leaders received sentences of up to sixty-five years. Let me say that again. the largest Muslim charity in America in two thousand eight, funded Hamas. The same Hamas that murdered over twelve hundred innocent Israelis, as well as civilians from fifty-two other countries on October seventh. The same Hamas that kidnapped children, that raped women and little girls, that held innocents hostage, including dozens of Americans. The Holy Land Foundation trial produced an extraordinary body of evidence. Wiretaps, internal memos, organizational charts, meeting transcripts, laying bare the brotherhood's sprawling American infrastructure. Most importantly, prosecutors identified what they alleged was a broader network of organizations operating within the United States. That list included the Islamic Society of North America, the North American Islamic Trust, and most notably the Council on American Islamic Relations, CARE. These organizations did not appear overnight. They began on college campuses in the nineteen sixties. They were built patiently over decades through exactly the kind of building and coalition building described in the explanatory memorandum. Now let's look at the Muslim Brotherhood network today and its influence in the United States, today. In fact, just yesterday, Abdul El-Sayed, the son-in-law of a leading member of several brotherhood groups, one Michigan's Democrat primary for US Senate. Perfect timing for this hearing. Probably explains why no Democrats are here and none intend to attend. Because their campaign is now openly embracing terrorist organizations waging war on America. Behind El-Syed's political rise sits a much older and more entrenched institutional network. At the center of this sprawling network is the Council on American Islamic Relations. CARE was f- founded in nineteen ninety-four by brotherhood affiliates. Omar Ahmed and Nihad Awad, two of CARE's founders, were both captured on FBI wiretaps at the nineteen ninety-three Philadelphia meeting, were brotherhood leaders plotted to undermine the Oslo peace process and rally broad support for Hamas in the States. Months later, CARE emerged as a nonprofit. Many people associated with CARE have actively aided terrorism and criminal efforts. For example, senior CARE official Ghassan El-Ashi was sentenced to sixty five years for funneling over twelve million dollars to Hamas. Randall Royer, a former care communication specialist, served thirteen years for helping friends join the Taliban. Bassem Kafagi, care's former community affairs director, was deported after pleading guilty to fraud. And Muthana Al-Hanouti, former Kerr, Michigan director, was convicted in two thousand and eleven for violating US sanctions. This pattern is not a coincidence. The Holy Land Foundation prosecution revealed that these organizations did not operate in isolation. They functioned as part of a broader Muslim Brotherhood ecosystem. When one organization collapses, another quickly emerges, often led by many of the same individuals. Consider the Islamic Association for Palestine, or IAP, one of the original brotherhood organizations identified during the Holy Land Foundation trial. After IAP was driven into bankruptcy through civil liability for supporting terrorism, its leadership did not disappear. They simply reappeared elsewhere. Rafiq Jabir, IAP's former president, became a founding board member of CARE. Osama Abir Shahid, once employed by two brotherhood org organizations, including IAP, now leads American Muslims for Palestine, or AMP. Salah Sarsour worked for IAP before later joining AMP's board. He was recently arrested by ICE. The names change, the nonprofits change, but the people and the mission remains remarkably consistent. UAE rightly designated care as a terrorist organization in twenty fourteen, more than a decade ago. My home state of Texas has done the same. Today, this network sustains itself through interlocking non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, litigation, political organizing, and taxpayer-funded grant programs. They file lawsuits. They lobby legislatures. They train activists. They organize on college campuses. They challenge school curricula and school policies. They conduct media campaigns in public advocacy. And they win statewide Democrat primaries. As recently as just yesterday. Consider how Kerr's leaders responded after October seventh. When Hamas murdered more than twelve hundred innocent people in Israel. The deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Kerr's executive director. And co-founder, Nahat Awad, declared publicly that he was happy to see people breaking the siege. Happy. At that horrific terrorist attack. Children murdered in their cribs. And Nahat Awad was quote unquote happy. I can't even share the photos and video footage that I have watched of what transpired. on October seventh, because watching it will make you physically sick. On the very day that Hamas carried out its massacre, Zahra Balou, executive director of CARE San Francisco chapter, celebrated the attacks by posting, quote, "We are witnessing decolonization." Months later, she referred to Hamas leader Ismail Hanaye as a martyr. Care California CEO, Husam Alush, said quote, "Israel should be attacked." Understand. Terrorists slaughtered entire families, kidnapped children and grandparents, raped women, and burned civilians alive in their homes. How do we know this? Because they recorded it themselves. In many instances, the terrorists took video footage of their heinous act, gleefully screaming "Allahu Akbar." They were proud of their barbarism. And CARE supported the attacks on Israel. CARE did not merely issue statements. They assisted the broader Muslim Brotherhood network as it coordinated legal support and strategic guidance for the violent campus encampments and riots at over a hundred campuses around the country. The stories on college campuses were horrific. At the University of Washington, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors was called names, spit at, laughed at, and told to quote, "go back to the gas chambers." Not a lot of subtlety and nuance in that one. At Columbia, when Jewish students were engaged in a patriotic display of waving the American flag and the Israeli flag, an extremist posed with a poster saying, " Al-Qassam's next target." Al-Qassam is the military arm of Hamas, responsible for conducting its terrorist organizations. Extremists are literally calling and advocating for the death of Jewish students on campus and by the way, the the extremist who was in that photograph was not from the Middle East. She was not Palestinian. She was a pretty blonde girl from Georgia who went to Columbia to be radicalized by zealots who hate America. The situation got so bad that the Orthodox rabbi on campus, Rabbi Eli Buechler, had to make this public statement, quote, "The events of the last few days have made it clear that Columbia University's public safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students' safety in the face of extreme anti-semitism and anarchy. I would strongly recommend you return home. That is a university that is failing its most basic mission, which is to protect the safety of the students enrolled at that university. The events we witnessed on college campuses after October seventh did not emerge from nowhere. They were not spontaneous, they were not organic. They were the product of an organized network that has spent decades building influence inside the United States. Just look at this dais. My Democrat colleagues have chosen not to participate. That's their right. But an oversight hearing that one of the two major parties refuses even to see is exactly the outcome these organizations that we're discussing have spent forty years working to produce. My promise to the American people is to hold accountable those who finance and support terrorism on American soil, no matter how many tax exemptions, charitable registrations, or civil rights letterheads they hide behind. Now we're gonna turn to the witnesses uh who are here today. Our first witness is Lara Burns. Laura Burns is the head of terrorism research at the program on extremism at the George Washington University. She is a distinguished attorney and retired federal agent with more than twenty-three years of experience, leading teams in complex international terrorism investigations. At the outset of her career as an FBI special agent, Ms. Burns led the Department of Justice's largest terrorism financing prosecution, the United States versus the Holy Land Foundation, which led to the conviction of some of Hamas's top fundraisers in America. She was later hand-selected to serve as an FBI special assistant US attorney in the northern district of Texas assigned to the national security div- section where she litigated a variety of federal criminal cases. Ms. Burns was then appointed as an FBI supervisory special agent and the International Terrorism Program Coordinator for the FBI's Dallas office counterterrorism program in twenty fifteen. She retired from the FBI in April twenty twenty three and dr- joined the program on extremism in May of twenty twenty four. Our second witness is Ariel Kle- Klepach. Ariel Klepach cur- currently serves as Senior Litigation Counsel at the National Jewish Advocacy Center. Through her work, she has studied Muslim Brotherhood affiliated entities in the United States, their tactics and their activities to best understand how to curb the influence of this nefarious network. Prior prior to her current role, Miss Claypuck was an assistant US attorney in the special prosecution sections of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. Before joining the US Attorney's Office, Miss Claypock was an assistant district attorney at the Manhattan district attorney's office. Miss Claypock earned her law degree from Columbia Law School, where she graduated as a James Kent scholar and a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated magna cum laude with a BA in international relations and a minor in international development. And our third witness is Mister Kyle Scheid Scheidler, who is the Director and Senior Adelist for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy where he conducts research and analysis on domestic threats to the US homeland, with an emphasis on the doctrines which fuel terrorism and shape the variety of kinetic and non-kinetic threats to America's security. He is brief senior US government personnel, members of Congress, federal and state local law enforcement officers, and he has testified before the U S U S Senate Judiciary Committee, the subcommittee on the Constitution, and the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defense. Mister Scheidler served as an expert witness in the first federal terrorism trial against members of Antifa. He is the author of Modern Minutemen, Vital Considerations to Secure America's States in the Twenty-First Century, and Understanding Black Identity Extremism, Considerations for Law Enforcement. And he is the editor of Unmasking Antifa, five perspectives on a growing threat. And a contributing author to Saudi Arabia and the global Islamic terrorist network. Finally, Mister Scheidler is a graduate of Boston University and was a Lincoln fellow with the Claremont Institute. And Miss Burns, we'll start with you, you are recognized for your opening statement.

Chairman Cruz, members of the committee.

And and and actually let me stop you for a moment. Uh, and I wanna ask each of you to to rise and be sworn in. If you'll e- each stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you're about to give before this subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing nothing but the truth, so help you God. All of you have answered affirmatively. You may be seated, and Miss Burns, you may give your opening statement.

Chairman Cruz and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Laura Burns and I am a retired FBI Special Agent and a Senior Research Fellow with George Washington University's program on extremism. A dangerous myth about foreign terrorist organizations persists in the United States, that the infrastructure supporting them exists only overseas. In reality, these support infrastructures have existed inside the US for decades. They operate through financial, propaganda and organizational support networks and commonly hide under the cover of charity, advocacy or a- uh activism. The two thousand eight trial and conviction of the Holy Land Foundation and its officials exposed a broader long-running network in the United States tied to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Evidence presented at the HLF trial included documents and wire taps collected by the FBI for over a decade outlined a structured Palestine committee. originally made up of front groups just as or such as the HLF, the IAP, and the UASR, which worked together to provide financial, media, and political support to Hamas. In nineteen ninety-three, leaders of the Palestine committee held a meeting known as the nineteen ninety-three Philadelphia meeting, which was lawfully wiretapped by the FBI. There, members of the Palestine committee defined the scope of the conspiracy, which included supporting Hamas abroad and infiltrating universities, media, politics here in the US. Why? To begin normalizing Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood extremist ideology in American society. They stated, quote, " War is deception" when plotting to lie to Americans. They also noted their intent to cleanse the curriculum in US-based K through twelve schools because, quote, " We don't want our children growing up surrendering to the idea of peace with Jews, their words." They recognized Hamas would be designated a terror organization and they risked exposure. They agreed to continue to pursue their agenda by cloaking themselves under the cover of legitimacy. Evidence emerged at the trial that showed it was out of this conspiratorial meeting that care was created to protect the other elements of the Hamas support network. The network vigorously pursued its agenda. Each part had its own role. The HL HLF's role in the conspiracy, before it was designated as a terror front in two thousand one, was to send money to Gaza and the West Bank to support the Hamas social infrastructure. The IAP's role was to disseminate Hamas propaganda here, and Kerr's role in the conspiracy was to defend and protect the other elements of the Hamas support network and to pressure others to adopt its narratives or remain quiet. Regarding the last point, in the nineteen ninety-three Philadelphia meeting, this network of individuals in effect plotted to silence the free speech of those who disagreed with them via intimidation. Specifically, meeting attendees agreed that they must quote " pressure others to adopt their narratives or remain neutral." It should be noted that a co-founder of Care, Nihat Awad, was an active participant in this conspiratorial meeting and he remains the executive director of Care to date. Elements within this network have evolved and rebranded, and Care's pressure tactics are still in play. Care and other elements of this network appear to have continued their acts furtherance of the conspiratorial agenda as detailed extensively in my written testimony today. For decades narratives have been intentionally seeded into public discourse that portray terrorist organizations as resistance movements, excuse acts of violence, and intimidate critics into silence. On college campuses, in activist spaces, and across social media, slogans and rhetoric that once existed on the fringes have become normalized. And too often people who raise concerns are immediately labeled hateful, intolerant or extremists themselves. But free societies cannot function when intimidation replaces debate. The First Amendment protects speech, it protects dissent, it protects protest, but it does not protect material support to terrorism. It does not protect criminal conspiracies, and it does not require Americans to ignore evidence introduced in federal court, simply because that evidence is politically uncomfortable. The history of this network is not in question. It was made public decade decades ago, but few paid attention. Now is the time to pay attention and understand the facts. The lesson from history is clear. Terrorist organizations do not survive on violence alone. They survive through networks that raise money, shape narratives, recruit supporters, and legitimize extremism. If we fail to recognize how those networks evolve and adapt, we will continue fighting yesterday's threats while tomorrow's are being built in plain sight. Our greatest vulnerability is not a lack of information, it is a failure to act on what decades of evidence have already revealed. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Burns, Ms. Claypock, you're recognized for your opening statement.

Thank you, Chairman Cruz and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Arielle Claypock and I am senior litigation counsel at the National Jewish Advocacy Center and a former federal prosecutor. When someone tells you who they are, believe them. The Muslim Brotherhood told us their strategy for the West. But don't take my word for it. They put it on paper. In two thousand four, the FBI seized a memorandum from the home of Muslim Brotherhood member and Hamas US-based archivist Ismail El-Baraseh. The memo, written in nineteen ninety-one, described the work of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States as, and I quote, "a kind of grand jihad in eliminating Western soci- eliminating and destroying Western society from within." In nineteen ninety-three after the announcement of the Oslo Peace Accords, a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas members met in Philadelphia to discuss their plan to thwart the agreement. The FBI wiretapped the meeting where the participants suggested the creation of a neutral sounding organization for the purpose of deceiving Americans. That organization is the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CARE. Thirty-five years later, their plan is working just as designed. This is not a relic of the nineteen nineties, it is a foreign terror-supporting movement on American soil, targeting our constitution and our founding principles. I would ask you to remember three things. These organizations are dangerous, they are in our schools, and they hide by abusing the very legal system they are working to dismantle. CARE and its officials platform and ret- maintain relationships with designated terrorists, not then, but today. Here are just a few examples. One, in twenty twenty five, the executive director of CARE Ohio, moderated an event that featured a member of Hamas. Caire called it an oversight. Two, the International Union of Muslim Scholars, or IUMS, founded by the now-designated foreign terrorist organization, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, amplifies Caire's work. This amplification is ongoing. This is the Caire content that is on the IUMS website today. Three, Caire's current executive director and nineteen ninety-three meeting participant Nihad Awad has appeared at IUMS events. eulogized a US-designated terrorist who was also Osama bin Laden's spiritual leader, and openly celebrated Hamas's murder of civilians. Second, they are in our schools. Care New Jersey pushed their revisionist version of a nine eleven curriculum to nearly thirty public school districts that reframed the attacks as a predictable consequence of US foreign policy. Imagine the kids in all those school districts walking around, learning and believing that nine eleven was our fault. Other care curricula warn teachers not to say radical Islamic terrorism, and care boasts of its partnership with Chicago public schools, one of the largest in the country. Indoctrinating our children into believing that terrorism is justified resistance is the antithesis of everything this country stands for. Third, they abuse the legal system to shield themselves from discovery. For example, in Texas, where care is challenging its terrorist designation, they have repeatedly resisted turning over discovery the judge has ordered them to produce. The state has had to file four different motions to compel the discovery that care was already ordered to produce by the judge. When a former board member publicly exposed that care was receiving foreign funding through the Washington Trust Foundation and hiding it from its own board care sued her for defamation then dropped the suit the moment the discovery turned to its Jonah records and in Virginia, care's affiliate organization, American Muslims for Palestine, was held in civil contempt. for defying the Virginia Attorney General in a fraud investigation. In Illinois, the same lawyers were ordered to pay attorney's fees for engaging in quote baseless discovery disputes in litigation that they have already dragged on for nearly twenty years. So what can we do? Thankfully, most of what is needed is simply to enforce the laws we already have. Treasury sanctions, material support and racketeering investigations, and IRS review of these so-called charities that were never legitimate in the first place. Those steps are detailed extensively in my written testimony. But if I leave you with one legislative fix, let it be this. Close the successor organization loophole. When the Boym family won a one hundred and fifty-six million dollar judgment for Hamas's murder of their American teenage son, the defendants dissolved and reappeared within a year under a new name. An entity found liable for material support should not escape by renaming itself, forcing both terror victims and the courts to play whack-a-mole for decades before achieving accountability. The Muslim Brotherhood told us who they are. They told us that they wanted to infiltrate American universities, media outlets, and research centers, and that is exactly what they've done. They teach our kids that nine eleven was our fault. They legitimize terrorism as justified resistance, and they abuse our legal process so that those who seek to expose them for who they really are, Muslims included, are silenced. We haven't been listening and Americans pay that cost every day. We have the tools to fix this and we must continue to act. Thank you.

Thank you. Mister Scheidler, you're recognized for your opening statement.

Chairman Cruz, distinguished senators. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Because our court system is built on certain fundamental principles, including trial by jury, the governor's government's burden of proof in criminal matters and the right to confront one's accusers, courts both civil and criminal have been at the center of revelations of great consequence to our republic and its national security. Examples include the Chamber His case and its famous pumpkin papers, exposing the role of the Communist Party of the United States in Soviet espionage, espionage, or the nineteen fifty-seven Appalachian New York raids, which convinced the federal law enforcement of the existence of the American mafia. To these we must add United States versus Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, prosecuted almost two decades ago, which exposed the existence and extensive reach of the Muslim Brotherhood in America since its arrival in nineteen sixty-two. Evidence submitted during that trial demonstrated that not only was the Muslim Brotherhood operating in America, but that the brotherhood played a singularly important role in providing indoctrination, financing, and political protection for Jihadist terrorism. Founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in nineteen twenty eight, from its very beginning, the Muslim brotherhood has operated as a clandestine organization, which engages in the creation of public front groups, cultivates agents of influence, seeks control over religious institutions, and engages in acts of political subversion, as well as creating deniable sub-organizations devoted to terrorism. all in pursuit of their ultimate goal, the overthrow of governments and the reestablishment of a worldwide caliphate operating under Islamic law. It is worth recalling that the government demonstrated that the US Muslim Brotherhood like all brotherhood branches worldwide, created and funded Hamas support networks known as Palestine committees at the direction of the International Muslim Brotherhood, beginning in nineteen eighty-three. The most infamous Palestine committee organization in the United States, CAIR, was so significant that its creation and bylaws received the explicit approval of the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt. HLF documents and related cases reveal that at one time, one in every four American mosques was under the influence of the Hamas-linked North American Islamic Trust. Brotherhood members, including some convicted of terrorism charges, such as Samia Al-Aryan and Abdurrahman Al-Ammodi, regularly worked to influence leaders of both American political parties. Organizations affiliated with the brotherhood have recruited and trained chaplains for American prisons, and the American military. Brotherhood organizations operate on nearly every college campus in the United States, and have regularly recruited young American Muslims and led them to commit acts of terrorist violence. In short, the issue of the U U S Muslim Brotherhood is not merely a counterterrorism issue, but it is also a systemic counterintelligence challenge. And even more broadly, it is a challenge to the fabric of the United States and its ability to seek assimilation and social cohesion. In the HLF case, the United States government achieved an unparallel And yet almost none of this information was put to f- substantive further use. HLF would be the last domestic Muslim Brotherhood charity designated by the US Treasury Department. There were no further prosecutions for material support. It was the equivalent of cracking the Enigma code in nineteen thirty nine, and then never decoding another Nazi message. In two thousand and eight, the US government had in its possession the name and rank of most leading Muslim Brotherhood figures in the United States. I would encourage the senators to demand in an appropriate classified setting, that US intelligence deliver the same levels of insight into brotherhood operations today. The federal government's disinterest in the challenge of the Muslim brotherhood has largely been answered by private efforts at the local and state level. These have included educational efforts, but also legislative and judicial responses. More than half a dozen state legislatures have passed resolutions condemning care. Two states, Florida and Texas, have publicly declared the group a terrorist organization. Some state attorneys general are currently pursuing investigations into brotherhood-linked entities. There have been efforts in federal court to enforce federal court judgments against elements of the Palestine Committee as well as lawsuits seeking to expose the role of foreign funding in care. Unfortunately, in multiple cases, as was already outlined, brotherhood affiliates have successfully used utilized lawfare to avoid complying with discovery. Critics will claim that the data derived from the HLF case and related cases are decades old. This is true, but it's also misleading. When studying clandestine networks, one must realize that they are established over many decades as trained cadre moved through positions of trust in the network's various fronts. Such individuals are not easily replaced, and they will regularly reappear. A historic snapshot of such a network and the players in it, far from being irrelevant, is a crucial piece of the puzzle, prized by both intelligence practitioners and historians. In conclusion, it is those who insist that the Brotherhood is a leopard who has somehow changed its spots who should be the ones required to meet the burden of proof because the US government has already proved beyond a reasonable doubt, what the Muslim Brotherhood is.

Thank you. Thank you to each of you for your testimony, which was highly enlightening. Uh, Ms. Burns, I I want to start with you. Thank you for your work defending the safety of all Americans. We are indebted to you for your twenty-three years of service. As the Lead Investigator and Prosecutor in the Holy Land Foundation investigation and prosecution, you have become deeply knowledgeable on the Muslim Brotherhood network operating in America. I want to start with a fundamental question. What should Americans be worried about, about the Muslim Brotherhood?

Thank you for the question. I think Americans need to understand the extent of the threat that this movement poses, and the extent of their ability to achieve their goals, and their patience in obtaining success in this. The strategy that they have set in place involves the erosion of our democratic principles. It involves the erosion of our personal freedoms. It evolves the erosions of the very principles upon which this country was created. And the individuals within this network do not have a deadline. If it takes them a hundred years to achieve this goal, they will steadily pursue it. That is something that I think in general Americans have a hard time understanding, is the stamina that this network possesses and the lethality that exists within it, because ultimately their goal is to erode our society and turn it into something that none of us want or need.

In the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, how many entities did the government identify as unindicted co-conspirators and joint venturers?

I don't remember the exact number, but it was hundreds.

Do you believe some of these groups were likely providing material support to terrorists?

I do.

And s- are some of these groups still in existence today?

Yes, sir, they are.

Do you believe they are still actively members of the Muslim Brotherhood network?

I do.

Is the conspiracy under which the Holy Land Foundation was prosecuted still in existence today?

I believe that it is.

To understand what got left on the table after the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, we have to look at who was in the room at that Philadelphia meeting in nineteen ninety three. Kerr was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, correct?

Yes, it was.

Has Kerr, to your knowledge, ever formally disavowed the Holy Land Foundation?

No, they have not.

Kerr was founded by Omar Ahmed and Nihad Awad. Both men were captured on FBI wiretaps at that infamous meeting where Hamas operatives discussed strategy on US soil. Is that right?

That's correct.

Now, Haidawad is still the executive director of CARE today. Is that right?

He is.

So when CARE tells this Congress, it has no ties to Hamas. The documented record says otherwise. Is that correct?

That is correct.

Agent Burns, if you were still an active FBI agent today, with the evidence you developed in the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, would care be on your list of organizations warranting further investigation.

It would.

Miss Burns, this is a letter that I sent to the FBI requesting the release of non-classified materials seized during the two thousand four search of Ismail Elborossi's home in Annandale, Virginia. To date, I have not received the do- th- those documents. This letter was sent on April sixteenth, twenty twenty six. Miss Burns, are you aware of anything unusual with the search of Elborossi's home that you would like to share with this committee?

The search of Elborossi's home revealed a massive amount of documentation what we call the archives of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. It was the documents and video and audio tapes were um a as seen in exhibits that were put forth in the Holy Land Foundation trial groundbreaking in the understanding of this Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas network here. And they are key to understanding the extent and scope of this network.

And am I correct that care showed up during the search of Alborasi's home and attempted to obstruct the seizure of the documents?

Yes, sir, they did.

If the FBI released the non-classified documents tomorrow from the search, would the public understand this network better than it does today?

I believe that the release of those documents, um, which would provide the ability for those of us who understand this network to conduct a full analysis, that we could use that to provide education to the general public about what this network really is.

All right, Mister Scheidler, let's turn to you. How long have you studied the history and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood?

Uh, since about two thousand seven, two thousand and eight, uh, actually with with the rise of the Holy Land Foundation, uh, trial, uh, it really piqued my interest, and it's fair to say it changed my entire career trajectory.

Do you believe that there is a Muslim Brotherhood branch operating in the United States.

Yes.

Are there ever instances where the Brotherhood groups engage in America in acts of violence?

Yes, there are. I would include, um, individuals associated with Brotherhood-linked mosques who have engaged in acts of terrorism. I would include, uh, individuals associated with Muslim students' associations, uh, dozens of which have committed acts of terrorism. I would also include uh the role in the promotion of rioting and civil disorder uh conducted by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and uh the Palestinian Youth Movement.

What you've described is exactly why I introduced the Stop Thunders Act, which would add rioting to the RICO predicate offenses so that the Justice Department can reach the entities that fund and coordinate these riots. Do brotherhood groups in America also participate in electoral and coalition politics?

Yes, sir, they do.

Is that consistent with the Tom Keen f- framework described in the explanatory memorandum, working through existing institutions rather than displacing them?

Yes, sir, as you described, it is a process of settlement by which they are creating and seizing control of institutions which they can u- then use to continue to build their efforts.

Does Abdul El-Sayed's candidacy for senator in Michigan concern you?

Yes, sir, it does.

Why is that?

Uh, well, to begin with, uh, I look at the connections that his father-in-law, Jakaku Taib, has to brotherhood-linked groups. This includes being the president at one time of CARE Michigan, uh, also his presence on the Islamic Society of North America Founders, uh, committee, which is only for those most, uh, exclusively devoted to ISNA and provide a significant amount of funding. There are other known brotherhood members on that committee. Um, I would also look at El-Said's ties to a group called M-Gage, which uh purports to be a uh Muslim sort of get out the vote or uh candidate recruitment organization, but it has close ties to care. It was created by a former care member who at one time was on a terror watch list, uh and was also a consultant to convicted terrorist Samuel Aryan.

Do you believe the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA, is an ongoing part of the Muslim Brotherhood network in the United States?

Yes, sir, I do. There were some HLF documents that reflected uh hesitation by the Brotherhood that they thought perhaps they were losing control of ISNA at one point, but they appear to have rectified that. As far as I can tell, there are still uh individuals uh associated with the Muslim Brotherhood uh who are in high leadership sp- positions with that organization, and they have never repudiated uh their ties to the organization.

Does the Muslim Brotherhood also partner with political groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America?

Yes, sir, they do.

Would you agree that this alliance between the Muslim Brotherhood and the DSA, otherwise known as the Red-Green Alliance, is based on a shared hatred of America, Israel, Western civilization writ large, capitalism and democracy.

Uh, yes, sir, I would, and I would go further as to say it's also united around a revolutionary objective, uh, advocating for the overthrow of the US Constitution.

Miss Klepok, let's move to you. Thank you for being with us today. Uh And thank you for your work confronting the Welcome. contemporary Muslim Brotherhood network in court. The historical record is damning. But I'd like to turn to what's being done about it today. The Muslim Brotherhood's ties to terrorism are ongoing today, not just historical. Is that right?

Yes, that's right.

And yet, Brotherhood groups still meet with members of Congress and are treated as a civil rights organization. Is that right?

Yes.

In your litigation work, have you found that Brotherhood affiliated entities share leadership funding or infrastructure across organizations that hold themselves out to the public as separate and unrelated.

That's correct. For example, the Islamic Association for Palestine after it was shut down, um after being sued and a judgment of a hundred and fifty-six million dollars entered against it, shut down with the same leaders and created a new organization called American Muslims for Palestine. Another example is CARE and its relationship with the Washington Trust Foundation. The Washington Trust Foundation is actually an uh it was back in nineteen ninety four, it was originally incorporated as care, and now the Washington Trust Foundation serves essentially as a real estate holding entity that per its own nine nineties exists for the purpose of supporting the care foundation today.

Well, and that's why I introduced the Sponsor Act, which would hold tax-exempt fiscal sponsors liable for what their sponsored entities do. The loopholes and the manipulation of our tax code needs to end. Ms. Claypuck, since approximately twenty twenty-two, have state and federal grant programs become a primary source of financial support for significant portions of the care ecosystem?

That's correct. I believe it was about fifty-four million dollars in federal grant money. Um, was received by Care California, there has been testimony in other Senate Judiciary subcommittees relating to that funding and it's the and Care's misuse of that funding.

You mentioned Care California. In twenty twenty four IRS findings filings, Care California reported distributing more than four million dollars in subgrants to thirty nine other organizations. Is that right?

Yes.

Roughly a hundred and eighty-five thousand of that went to California chapters of the Muslim American Society an organization that George Washington University's program on extremism identifies as a brotherhood legacy group. Is that right?

That's right, and federal prosecutors also called the Muslim American society the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.

And the American taxpayer is effectively footing the bill for this.

That's right.

So, the taxpayer funds it, and then the taxpayer is told it's none of his business what is done with that money. Let's talk about what happens when someone actually tries to look. Do you believe Brotherhood affiliates have developed effective tactics for obstructing any investigation into their activities?

Yes, they have.

Let's discuss a real-world example. Is it true that more than two years after the Virgin Virginia attorney

That's correct.

That kind of stonewalling is not unique to AMP. It's the brotherhood playbook. In your estimation, do you believe Treasury should investigate care for maintaining relationships with designated terrorists.

I do.

And do you believe that when the founders drafted the First Amendment, that propping up and shielding the Muslim Brotherhood from scrutiny is what they had in mind?

No, the rights afforded under the First Amendment are not absolute, and the Supreme Court has said in Holder versus Humanitarian Law Project that speech at the direction of or in coordination with a terrorist organization can constitute material support for terrorism under the statute.

Mister Scheibler, in your judgment, why should Americans be worried about the Muslim Brotherhood network in America?

Oh, I would point to the influence that the Muslim Brotherhood has had in, uh, elements of our foreign policy, including key Brotherhood members, uh, playing a role in lobbying the United States, uh, leading us into the intervention in the Libyan Civil War, and in the Si- Si- uh Syrian civil war, uh interventions which resulted in for example, uh using Yusuf Al-Qaradawi in Qatar uh as an intermediary for our negotiations with the Taliban. They have a tr- had a had a tremendously negative effect uh on our foreign policy, and also on our our domestic counterterrorism policy, um looking at influence with uh law enforcement and the like, preventing the investigation uh into their friends in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Is the Muslim Brotherhood network in America a foreign threat, a domestic threat, or both?

I- it's both. Uh, they both operate at the direction of individuals overseas, as well as having now at this point multiple generations of Brotherhood members who have grown up as American citizens and are US persons.

Ms. Burns, based on your decades of investigative experience, is the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood in America growing or shrinking?

It is growing.

Miss Claypuck, to what degree has the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrated the American education system? Should should parents sending their children to American public schools and universities be worried about the Muslim Brotherhood?

I believe they should be. In addition to the Care New Jersey curriculum that I mentioned in my opening statement, Care has also attempted to or initiated relationships with other public school districts, such as in Philadelphia, I believe also in Delaware. Um, as I mentioned, they also boast of their partnership with Chicago public schools. The type of rhetoric that, um, is being taught and promoted in their curriculum is, it, incredibly dangerous and antithetical to Western values.

In your work, have you seen this network specifically target young Americans because they're easier to influence than adults?

Yes, of course, if you teach an elementary schooler, that about nine eleven and teach them that it was our fault, they're not going to know any better. And of course, as has already been testified by the other witnesses on the panel, we've seen the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood network on college campuses, exactly as the Muslim Brotherhood set out to do in that nineteen ninety three meeting when they said that they would infiltrate American universities specifically.

Miss Kleipuck, following the letter that

No. In fact, I believe the language of the district court in the ruling upholding

Mm.

the unindicted co-conspirator list was that there was ample evidence to support

Mm.

um, both care and Nate and other organizations' inclusion on that list. And that ruling was upheld, I believe, by the fifth circuit.

I- in fact, as you just noted, uh, the fifth circuit did the opposite, affirming the district court's decision to deny care's motion to strike its name from the unindicted co-conspirator list. Is that right?

Yes.

And that ruling, finding sufficient evidence of care's involvement in the conspiracy as the successor organization to the Islamic Association for Palestine has never been reversed. Is that right?

I believe that is the ruling that found that Kerr's inclusion on the unindicted co-conspirator list was valid and not unconstitutional. I don't believe that that has ever been overturned.

So when Kerr tells the public and tells Congress that a federal court vindicated it, that claim is a lie, is it not?

It is.

Agent Burns, Kerr and other Muslim Brotherhood affiliated groups have long referred to the convicted Holy Land Foundation defendants as political prisoners, implying that they were imprisoned for their beliefs. Based on the trial record you helped build, is that an accurate description?

It is completely inaccurate. Labeling prisoners as political prisoners Does as you say. It implies that there was no due process, that people are imprisoned because of their beliefs or merely because of their speech. And in this instance, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its officers were tried by a jury of twelve, jurors who were hand-selected by the prosecution and the defense, who found, the jurors who found beyond a reasonable doubt that these individuals and the organization committed the crime of providing material support to terrorism under eighteen USC, twenty three, thirty nine B. And then the defense appealed that judgment on many grounds to the Fifth Circuit. And the Fifth Circuit examined all of those issues and wrote a lengthy, almost one hundred page opinion addressing those issues and affirming the convictions. And then the defendants applied for certiorari with the Supreme Court, who denied it. Therefore, they received exactly what our constitution provides, due process, and expended all of their efforts challenging that. So I would say that that is an absolute mischaracterization of those individuals and that entity.

And isn't it true that those men were convicted at a uh by a jury on all counts, after weeks of testimony, wiretaps, financial records, establishing

Yes.

Mister Scheidler, how important is the Brotherhood network operating inside the United States to the Brotherhood's global agenda?

I would say it's probably central to their to their efforts. Uh, while they have influence uh in other countries that is perhaps more significant, the the importance of influencing the United States is is preeminent.

Let's turn to the American Muslims for Palestine. Miss Claypuck, there are serious allegations that AMP is effectively the alter ego of the Islamic Association for Palestine, the original Hamas propagand pr- propaganda front in the United States. I- i- is there evidentiary support for that?

Yes, there is, that case is currently in litigation and scheduled to go to trial in February of next year. The district court judge in that case dism ruled against IAP uh ruled against AMP, excuse me, in multiple motions to dismiss, claiming that there was insufficient evidence of alter ego status.

Mister Scheidler, are there individuals who moved directly from IAP, UA, SR, or HLF into leadership roles at AMP?

Uh, yes, there are. Uh, as you named some of them, Osama Abu Arshad, who was not just at IAP, but he was also at the United Association for Studies in Research. which was really the Hamas think tank of its time. It was created by uh Hamas foreign affairs leader uh Abu Marzouk and uh led by Ahmed Youssef who was the sort of the Hamas political consultant.

And isn't it true that AMP's current executive director, Osama Abarshad, previously worked for both IAP and the United Association for Studies and Research, which were two of the original Hamas-linked organizations in America.

Yes, that's correct.

And in April, twenty twenty four, Mister Abershed stood on George Washington University's campus at a student protest and said in substance that the movement would take back these colleges, like it will take back America, like it will take back Palestine. Mister Scheidler, does rhetoric like that also inform how we should understand Hamas's own intent for the network it built here in America?

Y yes, it does.

We were talking about Abdul Al-Sayed, now the Democrat nominee for US Senate in the state of Michigan. Among other things, Mr. Al-Sayed has campaigned alongside Hassan Paiker, a radical left-wing Islamist, who has said, among other things, America deserved Nine eleven. Mister Al-Sayed was very proud to stand next to Hassan Paiker. I wanna ask each of the three witnesses. Do you believe America deserved nine eleven?

No, sir, it did not. Al-Qaeda committed the acts that we saw on nine eleven. Al-Qaeda hijacked commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center and into the Pentagon. and attempted to fly another plane and kill more civilians. They killed three thousand civilians. And for anyone to claim that anyone, anyone of those civilians or individuals who died in that atrocious terrorist attack deserved it is shameful.

Miss Claypuck.

Absolutely not. And the reframing of nine eleven as something that is a consequence of US foreign policy in the Middle East is an incredibly dangerous rhetorical tool that the brotherhood has used. And we've seen that rhetorical tool extend even beyond to Mr. El-Sayed's statements about even the recent terrorist attack against a preschool in Michigan.

Mister Scheidler.

I have to concur, it's a terrific statement.

Final question. What does it say to you that today's Democrat Party is proudly supporting Mister El-Sayed as a Michigan US Senate candidate. And will funnel money, support and advocacy behind his candidacy, notwithstanding his willingness to embrace someone like Hassan Paiker, who says America deserved nine eleven. Miss, Mister Scheidler?

Oh, I would say it shows the success of the Muslim Brotherhood network over multiple decades. uh that they achieved what they said they were going to achieve, which was to normalize uh support for Hamas, uh normalize support for terrorism.

Miss Kleipach.

I would concur with that. The classification of this hearing and this endeavor as Islamophobic says a lot about the failure of one party in this country to confront the terrorist threat that faces our nation. I would say that the most Islamophobic or racist thing about this endeavor is the fact that the Democrats can't look at terrorists because they purport that it reflects all Muslims.

Miss Burns.

I would say that embracing uh Muslim Brotherhood rhetoric and furthering the Muslim Brotherhood's agenda in this country will resort in the erosion of our government, the erosion of the fabric of our society, and it poses a threat to um to our national security and should be treated as such.

Well, I want to thank each of the witnesses for your testimony. It was highly enlightening, and I hope that the administration listens to your testimony carefully, and I hope we see real action from the Department of Justice, the Department of Treasury, the FBI, and elsewhere following up and protecting the American people from what I believe is a clear and present danger. to our safety and security. This concludes our hearing. Wr- written questions can be submitted for the record until Tuesday, August twelfth at five p m. And I will ask the witnesses to answer and return any questions to the committee by August twenty-sixth at five p m. And with that, this hearing is adjourned.