(MintPress) – After Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and other Republican leaders alleged this week that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is infiltrating the U.S. government, a few prominent politicians including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), spoke out against the letters and defended Muslim-Americans.
McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, specifically addressed the letters’ accusations that State Department official Huma Abedin and her family had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, on the senate floor Wednesday. He said, “These allegations about Huma and the report from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman, a dedicated American and a loyal public servant.”
“When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it,” Sen. McCain said.
In an exclusive letter to MintPress (see below), Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim-American elected to Congress, also voiced his concerns about Bachmann’s source regarding the accusations and the McCarthy-like rhetoric used to invoke fear.
Bachmann continues to defend the letters, saying in a statement, “I encourage everyone, including media outlets, to read them in their entirety. The intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group’s access to top Obama administration officials.”
