Democratic lawmakers were missing during Wednesday's Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing as they skipped a hearing on the Muslim Brotherhood’s alleged network inside the United States, drawing a blistering rebuke from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
"You may notice that there are empty chairs on the Democrat side of the dais," Cruz said as he opened the hearing by pointing out that every Democratic member of the subcommittee refused to attend. "The American people should ask themselves why not a single member of the minority decided that a hearing on terrorism was worth their time? It is an embarrassment."
Cruz tied the Democrats’ boycott to Abdul El-Sayed’s primary victory, arguing that the timing helped explain why no Democratic members attended. Cruz accused the party of embracing a candidate who had campaigned alongside left-wing streamer Hasan Piker.
Cruz cited Piker’s past statement that "America deserved 9/11" and asked the witnesses what El-Sayed’s rise said about the direction of the Democratic Party.
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"Abdul El-Sayed, the son-in-law of a leading member of several Brotherhood groups, won Michigan’s Democrat primary for U.S. Senate. Perfect timing for this hearing, probably explains why no Democrats are here and none intend to attend," Cruz said. "Because their campaign is now openly embracing terrorist organizations waging war on America."
The five Democratic members of the subcommittee — Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Alex Padilla of California and Peter Welch of Vermont — announced beforehand that they would not attend. In a joint statement, the senators accused Cruz of staging a "political creepshow" that scapegoated Muslim Americans.
"Scapegoating Muslims may be a Texas Republican strategist’s idea of ‘solid gold’ to whip up their voters, but Democrats have no intention of indulging this political creepshow, particularly after the recent violence targeting places of faith," they said. "Our focus is the costs families face thanks to rampant, non-stop Trump corruption."
Blumenthal separately told reporters Wednesday that Democrats refused to attend because the hearing "could well be used as an anti-Muslim, Islamophobia kind of show trial."
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The Connecticut Democrat added that he planned to meet with members of the Muslim community who shared concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood, "which appears to be a terrorist organization," while advocating for "tolerance and inclusion."
The offices of Whitehouse and Welch referred Fox News Digital to the joint statement when asked why the senators chose to boycott rather than attend and challenge the witnesses directly. The offices of Hirono and Padilla had not responded by publication time.
Cruz and the hearing’s witnesses rejected the Democrats’ characterization of the proceeding as an attack on Muslims generally.
Lara Burns, a retired FBI special agent who helped lead a terrorism-financing investigation against what was once the largest Muslim charity in the United States, the Holy Land Foundation, warned that Americans should not disregard evidence because it is politically controversial.
"For decades, narratives have been intentionally seeded into public discourse that portray terrorist organizations as resistance movements," Burns testified before arguing Americans cannot "ignore evidence introduced in federal court simply because that evidence is politically uncomfortable."
"The history of this network is not in question," she added. "It was made public decades ago, but few paid attention. Now is the time to pay attention and understand the facts."
