Grover Norquist book release overshadowed by ‘ethics investigation’ into Islamist ties

Grover Norquist, famed DC power-player and anti-tax advocate would prefer that you focus on the release of his new book this week. Unfortunately for him, talk show host Glenn Beck, informed by years of investigative work by Secure Freedom President Frank Gaffney, has launched a series of investigative reports detailing Norquist’s connections to dangerous Islamists.

On March 11, 2015, Glenn Beck announced on his popular nationally syndicated radio program that he might have to end his longstanding relationship with the National Rifle Association (NRA) if Grover Norquist were reelected to the NRA’s board of directors. For years, Mr. Beck has made clear that he has no problem with the anti-tax activism for which Mr. Norquist is best known, but that he is deeply troubled by evidence that the latter has long been involved with and enabled Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic supremacist influence operations.

The next day, Glenn Beck reported that he had received an hour-long call from NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre in the course of which Mr. LaPierre announced that the National Rifle Association would be conducting a “transparent” and “open” ethics investigation of Grover Norquist. On three consecutive days, March 25-27, Mr. Beck used his television and radio platforms to engage in his own investigation – including an hour-long interview with Norquist, himself.

The following are highlights of the Beck inquiry, drawn from his TV shows of March 25^th and 26^th, and his radio program of March 27^th – including an illustrative exchange from Mr. Beck’s Norquist interview.

[CLICK BELOW FOR HIGHLIGHT REEL OF GLENN BECK’S EXPOSÉ]

Beck’s Characterization of Norquist

Glenn Beck introduced his audience to Grover Norquist at the start of his hour-long, two -chalkboard briefing on March 25^th with the following statement:

“[Norquist] is really a power player who has managed to use his influence to evade any real scrutiny over his dangerous connections….Politicians listen to him. Many obey him. He has a long list of connections with radical Islamic organizations and in some cases actual terrorists. His alarming ties with groups hostile to America, who seek to destroy it from the inside out, those are the things that should worry every American.

“This is about national security. This is a danger to you, your family, and the republic.”

Beck’s Depiction of Grover Norquist’s Muslim Brotherhood Associates and Front Group – the Islamic Free Market Institute

In the course of his March 25 televised briefing, Glenn Beck made the following points:

“[Norquist has]…created this: The Islamic Institute. Which is trying to support the free market in Islam. That’s a good goal. Until you start to see how this thing has come together.

“Let me show you some of the people that he’s been working with and crossing paths with:

• Abdurahman Alamoudi: “This guy is extremely disturbing….[He] was finally arrested at Heathrow airport with $340,000 in cash that was given to him by Muammar Gaddafi. The plot involved al-Qaeda operatives. He was a senior al-Qaeda financier. He funnelled at least a million dollars directly to al-Qaeda. He was sentenced in 2004. He’s serving a twenty-three year prison sentence for terrorist fundraising related to the plan to assassinate the Saudi crown prince Abdul[lah]. So, people [Norquist] trusts.
• “Khaled Saffuri:…He is al-Amoudi’s right hand man. He was a deputy at the American Muslim Council, one of the Brotherhood front organizations. He was founder of the Islamic Institute. He was very influential in the Bush Administration. He led talks with the administration in opposition of Operation Green Quest, which we’ll talk a little bit about later. That was basically trying to go get the front groups. He didn’t want that to happen.”
• “Sami al-Arian:…Former member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Former professor at [University of South Florida]. Campaigned against secret evidence method. He was caught soliciting donations for a Palestinian terrorist to kill an Israeli Jew. He paid respects to, quote, ‘the march of the martyrs and to the river of blood that gushes forth and does not extinguish.’ I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to hang out with him. He also said, ‘Let us damn America to death.’”
• “Jamal al-Barzinji: He is the founder – the founding father, he’s the George Washington of the Muslim Brotherhood of the U.S. He played a crucial role in creating and organizing the web of Brotherhood front groups that followed: Islamic Society of North America, Muslim American Society, International Institute of Islamic Thought. He founded the radical mosque in Virginia. He’s known for ties to Islamic terrorists from Hamas to al-Qaeda. He’s an officer of the SAAR Foundation, which is suspected of funding terrorist groups.”
• “Then we go to Suhail Khan. Suhail Khan is probably the cleanest of Grover Norquist’s friends. He campaigned against the DOJ’s secret evidence. His parents are really the trouble spot. They were prominent leaders in the Brotherhood front groups. And the annual award at ISNA, it is given every year in his father’s name. The mosque founded by his dad hosted the Blind Sheikh just a couple of months before he bombed the World Trade Center. He has a network of terrorist friendly organizations and he made it possible for Osama bin Laden’s number two, al-Zawahiri, to actually covertly visit the United States undetected in 1995. He played a key role in founding CAIR. He was praised by al-Amoudi at an awards ceremony.”

Norquist’s Defense

The following exchange is illustrative of the sort of explanation/deflection Grover Norquist presented in the course of his hour-long televised interview with Glenn Beck on March 26, 2015:

GROVER NORQUIST:

“…When we set up the Islamic Free Market Institute in the mid-90s, it was because I had seen in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the end of the war against the Soviet Union, this radical strain of anti-Americanism and statism in the Muslim community from people who you think would have been more supportive of the United States since we were helping these people fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

“And so I was looking around for how do we make the case for a reformation in Islam focused on something that I know something about, which is free market economics….

“My interest was not here in the United States. It was focused out. And so the work of the institute was trying to be a little light, a little beacon to make the case that…[in the Quran] property rights are strong, low taxes, free trade.”

GLENN BECK:

That sounds like an unbelievably noble goal. That sounds –

GROVER NORQUIST:

Well, it’s a small effort.

GLENN BECK:

Well, but I think it sounds like a noble goal.

GROVER NORQUIST:

Well, thank you.

GLENN BECK:

Now, here’s the question that leaps to mind. If that’s my goal, gosh, how do I take a check from a guy like al-Amoudi?

GROVER NORQUIST:

But I didn’t really have that much in contact with him, but I did hear from Khaled [Saffuri], he was sort of okay, if oldish school. But then in 2000 – so he wrote a ten thousand dollar check and ten thousand dollar loan to the institute, I think trying to make nice with Khaled. However, he – in 2000, late 2000, October or so, gave this speech at a rally and said that he supported Hamas –

GLENN BECK:

[OVERLAP] Hold on just a second. Hold on just a second. At a rally sponsored by you.

GROVER NORQUIST:

Oh, okay. I know what the concern is. No. There was an intern – this was written up in Insight at the time afterwards cause somebody had said so. We had an intern who had said that was okay. He was told that’s not okay. And there was no money involved. He just – I guess they had a bunch of people’s names attached to some rally in opposition to the occupation of the West Bank –

GLENN BECK:

[OVERLAP] Oh, so you didn’t sponsor that at all. That was an intern that made that mistake.

GROVER NORQUIST:

Yeah, that was written up at the time in Insight magazine –

GLENN BECK:

So is that a little like – because your firm was also lobbying for al-Amoudi, but then you said, once you found out that he was going to prison, you then came out and said that that was a clerical error. So was it the same intern or is it a different – is it a different problem?

GROVER NORQUIST:

No, the one was an intern. You’re not supposed to sign us up for other things. He just thought he was – I don’t know why he did it, but he shouldn’t have. He was told not to.

But just let me get back to the lobbying, because that’s I think very important also.

The – [al-Amoudi] gave this speech and Khaled heard about it and told me. And he said, “Look, I told the guy: One, he needs to grovel and apologize and denounce his statement.” Khaled felt he didn’t do that. And he said to him, “Look, you haven’t done anything with this. You haven’t asked us for anything. You haven’t gone to anything we’ve done. But from now on, you’re not allowed to go to anything we’re doing.” He never went to any of the conferences or worked with anybody there. He never asked for anything.

Beck Dissects Norquist’s Explanation of the Islamic Free Market Institute

During his radio program on March 27^th, Glenn Beck performed a lengthy post-mortem on his interview the day before with Grover Norquist. At one point, he engaged in a Socratic colloquy with his executive producer, Steve Burguiere, better known as “Stu” about Norquist’s lengthy involvement with Muslim Brotherhood operatives, organizations and agendas. These excerpts capture the essence of their exchange:

GLENN BECK:

“Stu, let’s say that you want to stop the Klan, okay?…And you want to start a big foundation, billions of dollars will go into this, stopping the Klan. And that’s your zeal. You think you can help – and you’re way ahead of the curve, before the Klan is really even stringing people up, you’re ahead of the curve. Okay? What are some of the things that you do? When you’re looking for people to join you. What are the things you do?”

* * *

“Who do you put in next to you? Who do you have in? Who do you take money from? Who do you have as partners?”

STU:

“Well, you pick people fighting that cause, right? You pick people against the Klan who would be donating money to stop that.”

GLENN BECK:

“Right. And you would have people – if you had people who were members of the Klan, full fledged members of the Klan, would you take money from them?”

STU:

“No, I would not.”

GLENN BECK:

“Okay. Would you think it would be irresponsible of you to take money from people unknowingly when they were clearly in the Klan?”

STU:

“Yeah, that would be very irresponsible.”

GLENN BECK:

“Would you take other people’s word: ‘No, he’s a good guy. He’s a good guy.’ ‘Well, he seems to have a lot of Klan stuff at his house.’ ‘Nah, he’s a good guy.’ Or would you take it upon yourself as being a guy who’s setting up an institution, stoptheklan.org, you know, would you take it upon yourself – ”

STU:

“To do my own research – “

GLENN BECK:

“To do your own homework.”

STU:

“Yes, I believe his hoodie fell off. He just needed another hood.”

GLENN BECK:

“Correct. If you found that one of the guys you took money from and you thought was a good guy because everybody was telling you, would you then up your standards and say, ‘Wow, that was a close call.’”

 STU:

“See, maybe, you know, you’re starting out, a little lazy on the specifics, but once it happens to you, you’re certainly going to step up your efforts.”

 * * *

 GLENN BECK:

“[Norquist] is lying. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you would convict on this if you were sitting in a court. This makes no sense whatsoever….

“Now my question to you is you didn’t accept any of this from the Obama administration. Now this guy is in, this guy agrees with you on much – he agrees, lower taxes, he’s helping people get elected and everything else. He’s on your side. Do you accept it now or are you consistent?

“Do you have the balls to have the courage of your convictions to say, yes, this might hurt in the short-term but this guy needs to be out of CPAC. This guy needs to be out of the GOP. Who is he meeting with every Wednesday in his Wednesday meeting of one hundred and fifty Republicans every single Wednesday? Who is he meeting? What is he saying? Where is he getting his funding from? Who else has he whitewashed and put into places that God knows Muslim Brotherhood should not be in? This guy is lying to you.”

Beck’s Conclusions About Grover Norquist and What to Do About Him

The following quotes capture the bottom line of Glenn Beck’s investigation of Grover Norquist (drawn, as indicated from his television and radio programs of March 25^th and March 27^th, respectively:

“I don’t know what Grover’s motivations are for working with people that range from Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer all the way to full-blown terrorists. It can only be one of two things. He is the most unlucky and naïve guy next to the president of the United States. And I hope it’s that.

“Because the only other option is that he strongly agrees enough with the Muslim Brotherhood’s mission. Or they’re just paying him enough cash to subvert America.

“Either way, somebody with this much power inside the Republican Party and inside the NRA with these connections is absolutely unacceptable. No person with any shred of integrity whatsoever would be within the same postcode of some of these people let alone at the same office or exchanging money with them. And so far, the explanations given for the connections are completely unacceptable as well.” (3/27 Radio Program)

“I am not telling you that Grover Norquist nor his allies want to destroy the United States of America. I don’t believe that. I don’t know what his motivation is. But I’m going to give what I believe his motivation is power and money. That’s it. Power and money. And so he’ll take the money and he’ll use that power anyway he has, anyway he can, to keep himself and others like him in power.” (3/25 TV Program)

“So the question is not about Grover Norquist. The question is about you. GOP members. NRA members. The people – and I’ve got to get the list, I’ll get the list when we come back of all the things that he’s on the board of directors of. That’s the way the Muslim Brotherhood does it. They launder people and then they get on the board of directors. This is the Tides Foundation. Except it’s on our side. Do you like it? Is this who you want to be?” (3/27 Radio Program)