FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is calling on Gov. Mike Braun to join other Republican governors in branding the Council on American-Islamic Relations a terrorist organization.
“It’s high time that Indiana declare CAIR a foreign terrorist organization,” Rokita told The Daily Signal in an interview Thursday. “I completely agree and I call on Gov. Braun to do that very thing.”
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, designated CAIR a foreign terrorist organization on Nov. 18, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., followed suit last week.
Both Abbott and DeSantis cited the history of CAIR, which bills itself as the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S.
Members of the Islamic Association for Palestine, an organization affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and created to support Hamas in the U.S., founded CAIR in 1994. Federal prosecutors named CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terror financing case, in which CAIR associates were convicted of providing material support to designated terrorist organizations.
While a federal judge later ruled that publicly naming CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator violated the group’s Fifth Amendment rights, he also found “ample evidence to establish” its associations with the Holy Land Foundation, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and Hamas.
CAIR’s Lawsuits
CAIR sued Abbott on Nov. 20 and DeSantis on Dec. 15. CAIR claims that neither Abbott nor DeSantis has the authority to designate foreign terrorist organizations—only the federal government does—and that the governors violated its 14th Amendment due process rights and First Amendment free speech and free association rights.
CAIR also cites a statement that has been on its website since 2009: “We unequivocally condemn all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the U.S. Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.'”
Last week, CAIR filed a public records request seeking DeSantis’ communications with Israeli officials and “anti-Muslim hate groups.”
“Ron DeSantis has a long history of close collaboration with anti-Muslim hate groups and Israeli government officials who have spent years trying to silence American Muslims who support Palestinian human rights,” CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw said in a statement. “The people of Florida and the broader public have a right to know whether Governor DeSantis collaborated with a foreign government or hate groups to launch his unconstitutional and defamatory attack on CAIR-Florida and the broader Florida Muslim community.”
‘Dispelling Rumors’
CAIR has long disputed claims of the kind Abbott and DeSantis cited. The organization updates a web page dedicated to dispelling “rumors” and “conspiracy theories.”
CAIR admits that it was included on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case, but notes that there were more than 300 other organizations on the list.
“There is no legal implication to being labeled an unindicted co-conspirator, since it does not require the Justice Department to prove anything in a court of law,” the organization notes. “Regardless, the issue of our inclusion on the list was settled in CAIR’s favor.” The judge in the case stated, “This case is not about CAIR.”
The Biden administration distanced itself from CAIR after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. The Biden White House had previously included CAIR in its initiative to combat antisemitism.
CAIR’s claim about DeSantis working with “anti-Muslim hate groups” relies on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s accusations. Critics have long claimed that the SPLC falsely brands mainstream conservative and Christian groups “hate groups,” partly because they disagree with the SPLC’s own agenda. Organizations like the Center for Security Policy and the David Horowitz Freedom Center vehemently contest the accusation. CAIR has attacked Jewish groups as “anti-Muslim.”
DeSantis’ Response
When CAIR threatened a lawsuit shortly after DeSantis’ designation, the governor responded that he looked forward to accessing CAIR’s internal records in the discovery process.
“I look forward to discovery—especially the CAIR finances,” the governor posted on X. “Should be illuminating!”
“We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” DeSantis’ communications director, Alex Lanfranconi, told The Daily Signal in a statement this week.
