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. [...]
“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.
The Justice Department’s IG began investigating the FBI’s contacts with CAIR in March. Spokesman Jay Lerner declined to provide any details about the investigation, but pointed to a short passage in the IG’s semiannual report to Congress, released April 30.
“The OIG is reviewing interactions between FBI field offices and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The review will determine if these interactions were in compliance with FBI policy and guidance that restricts certain interactions with CAIR,” said IG Michael Horowitz.
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