SALON

Monday, Nov 5, 2012 5:35 PM UTC

Bachmann stands by Muslim witch hunt

In the final debate of her campaign, Bachmann defends her witch hunt VIDEO

By

Topics: Muslim Brotherhood, Michele Bachmann, John McCain, Islamophobia, Election 2012,

Bachmann stands by Muslim witch huntMichele Bachmann (Credit: AP/Jae C. Hong)

Locked in the toughest fight of her congressional career, Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann defended her witch hunt against alleged Muslim Brotherhood infiltrators in the federal government last night during the final debate against her Democratic challenger, Jim Graves. “I certainly do stand by those letters,” Bachmann said of the five letters she sent to the inspectors general of various security agencies warning that they may have been infiltrated by Muslim Brotherhood agents.

“The events in Benghazi have proved that the United States remains under attack, both in the Middle East, and here in the United States,” she continued last night. When the moderator noted that there’s no proof that the Muslim Brotherhood was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. diplomats in the Libyan city, Bachmann replied that “we are only just beginning” to investigate and suggested that all radical Islamists groups are tied to the Brotherhood.

Bachmann, in her letters, targeted several people by name, including Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Abedin is widely liked by leaders in both parties in Washington, so Bachmann’s suggestion that she’s a terrorist sparked a backlash. “These allegations about Huma, and the report from which they are drawn, are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen, a dedicated American, and a loyal public servant,” Sen. John McCain said on the Senate floor in July. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, along with House Speaker John Boehner, and even Bachmann’s former campaign manager, all condemned her publicly.

But when asked about McCain’s criticism last night, Bachmann suggested that she has secret information backing her up. “I sit on the intelligence committee, we deal with the nation’s classified secrets. We have a number of people who came out in support of us,” she said.

John Brennan, the nation’s top counterterrorism official, rolled his eyes in August when asked if there was anything to Bachmann’s claims. “I have no idea of what it is that they are making reference to, and I’m not even going to try to divine what it is,” he said. Of course, that’s exactly what he would say if he were working for the Muslim Brotherhood. In September, after the attacks in Libya, Bachmann claimed vindication for her witch hunt at a conference of evangelical conservatives in Washington.

For his part, Graves said, “I’ll stand with John McCain and Speaker Boehner and Lindsey Graham … We don’t need to be polarizing, we don’t need to be throwing mud, especially when it’s uncalled for,” he said.

 

Alex Seitz-Wald

Alex Seitz-Wald is Salon's political reporter. Email him at aseitz-wald@salon.com, and follow him on Twitter @aseitzwald. More Alex Seitz-Wald.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 19 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Journalists file suit against Manning's trial secrecy: Plaintiffs including Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange demand press, public access to trial and documents
163 points164 points | comment
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
144 points145 points | 97 comments
vote
Report: Nearly a quarter of Americans struggle to afford food
138 points139 points | 12 comments
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
139 points140 points | 60 comments
vote
Ted Cruz against the world - How the Junior Senator is igniting the GOP civil war
82 points83 points | 21 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations