Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN) continued on the theme that Reps. Peter King (R-NY) Frank Wolf (R-VA) started on earlier today at King’s hearings on the “Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response” by attacking the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
But Cravaack upped the rhetorical ante a bit, referring to CAIR as “basically… a terrorist organization” and asking Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca — hypothetically — if he would continue to work with CAIR if he “knew that CAIR was a terrorist organization sponsored by Hamas.”
“Let me answer this way,” Baca said in response to the accusations, “if the FBI has something to charge CAIR with, bring those charges forward and try them in court and deal with it that way.”
“There is a reality that in my culture as a police officer that you have facts and you have a crime, deal with it,” said Baca, who was called as a witness by Democrats on the committee.
“We don’t play around with criminals in my world,” Baca said. “If CAIR is an organization that’s a, quote, ‘criminal organization,’ prosecute them, hold them accountable, and bring them to trial.”
