The Blaze seeks Congressional support for Boston Marathon bombing conspiracy

In an email to Congress, the right wing news site asked for help pushing a debunked Saudi National conspiracy

Published April 26, 2013 10:04PM (EDT)

Glenn Beck's right wing news site The Blaze has petitioned Congress to help promote a debunked claim about Saudi national ties to the Boston Marathon bombing. The email, sent by a Blaze producer Virginia Grace, asks members of Congress to raise the issue to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FBI director Robert Mueller.

The email was obtained by Media Matters and can be found in full below:

From: Grace, Virginia
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 4:40 PM
To: Grace, Virginia
Subject: Revised: Request from TheBlaze

Congressman,

Over the past two weeks TheBlaze has been reporting on the Saudi National, Abdul Rahman ali Al-Harbi, who was briefly detained as a potential suspect after the Boston bombing. Shortly after a search of his apartment in Revere, Massachusetts an event file was issued by the NTC designating him as a terrorist under the Immigration Nationality Act 212 (a)(3)(B)(ii)(II)  and making reference to involvement in the bombing. Twenty four hours later the file was amended to remove the terrorist designation and a short time after that removed from the system altogether. To date Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has refused to comment on the terrorist designation, first even denying Mr. Al-Harbi had ever been a person of interest before finally admitting to Congress on Tuesday that he had, in fact, been placed on the Watch List for a short time. TheBlaze believes the public has a right to know why Al-Harbi went from terrorist to nobody in the span of 48 hours. What evidence led to the designation in the first place and what transpired to reverse it a short time later.

Would you be willing to raise those issues with Ms. Napolitano or Mr. Robert Muller at the FBI and report your findings to the American public?

Please let us know.

Sincerely, The Blaze


By Katie McDonough

Katie McDonough is Salon's politics writer, focusing on gender, sexuality and reproductive justice. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com.

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