Justice Dept. inspector general investigates FBI, CAIR ties

The Justice Department's inspector general is investigating the FBI's contacts with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The investigation comes amid increased pressure from Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf to end formal and informal contacts between FBI officials and CAIR.

The White House, however, is prodding federal agencies to meet with CAIR, which has close ties to Islamist groups, such as HAMAS. "There is hundreds of examples of departments and agencies that meet with CAIR on a range of issues," George Selim, the White House's new director for community partnerships, told The Daily Caller June 7.

"I was was shocked, but not surprised" at the news about the White House's outreach to CAIR, Wolf told TheDC on Monday.

"For the administration to be meeting with these people is disappointing and shocking, but ... the administration is disappointing," Wolf said.

CAIR is especially controversial because of its many links to the theocratic Muslim Brotherhood, whose political wing is set to dominate Egyptian politics since the 2011 departure of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.

In 2009 a judge confirmed the Justice Department's decision to name CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation conspiracy to smuggle funds to HAMAS, which is a jihadi affiliate of the Egypt-based brotherhood. Five men in the smuggling ring were sentenced to jail in 2009, including two who were given 65-year sentences. Five current or former CAIR employees have been jailed or deported for terror-related offenses.

Wolf has sponsored language in a pending House measure that pressures the FBI to sever relations with CAIR.

"The [appropriations] committee understands that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has an existing policy prohibiting its employees from engaging in any formal non-investigative cooperation with CAIR [and] the committee encourages the attorney general to adopt a similar policy for all department officials," said the committee report accompanying the 2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, passed in mid-May by the House.

FINISH