REPORT: President Trump Pushing To Designate Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Organization!

Here's more, from the New York Times:

The White House is pushing to issue an order that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, bringing the weight of American sanctions against a storied and influential Islamist political movement with millions of members across the Middle East, according to officials familiar with the matter.

The White House directed national security and diplomatic officials to find a way to place sanctions on the group after a White House visit on April 9 by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, for whom the Brotherhood represents a source of political opposition. In a private meeting without reporters and photographers, Mr. el-Sisi urged Mr. Trump to take that step and join Egypt in branding the movement a terrorist organization.

Such a designation imposes wide-ranging economic and travel sanctions on companies and individuals who interact with the targeted group. The president responded affirmatively to Mr. el-Sisi, saying it would make sense. Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers have interpreted that as a commitment, officials said.

But the proposal has prompted fierce debate within the administration, including at a senior-level meeting of policymakers from various departments convened last week by the White House’s National Security Council, the officials said.

In a statement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, acknowledged that the administration was working on designating the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists.

“The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process,” Ms. Sanders said.

John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, support the idea, officials said. But the Pentagon, career national security staff, government lawyers and diplomatic officials have voiced legal and policy objections, and have been scrambling to find a more limited step that would satisfy the White House.

And here's another excerpt from another NY Times article asking the question, "Is the Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Organization?"

President Trump wants  to designate the Muslim Brotherhood, an international Islamist movement, as a terrorist organization. The designation would impose sanctions on the group and those who do business with it.

Officials in the Pentagon and State Department have raised objections to the plan, saying that the Muslim Brotherhood does not meet the legal definition of a terrorist group and that its designation could have unintended consequences in allied countries where the Brotherhood fields prominent political parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood has frequently denounced terrorism and violence.

Here’s a brief guide.

What is the Muslim Brotherhood?

The Muslim Brotherhood is a missionary movement founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, a schoolteacher working in the town of Ismailia, near the Suez Canal. He argued that an Islamic religious revival would enable the Muslim world to catch up to the West and shake off colonial rule.

But he was sweeping and contradictory about the mission of the group, and largely avoided spelling out what an Islamic government might look like.

His teachings spread far beyond Egypt, and today widely varying Islamist political movements — including missionary, charitable and advocacy organizations as well as political parties in many countries — trace their roots to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Some of these groups use the name Muslim Brotherhood and others do not.

Political parties explicitly linked to or descended from the Muslim Brotherhood are recognized in many countries allied with the United States, including Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia.

No. Even experts critical of the Brotherhood agree that the organization does not meet the criteria for a terrorist group.

Under the British-backed monarchy in the 1940s, the Egyptian Brotherhood was one of several factions to create paramilitary wings. In 1948, a 23-year-old veterinary student who belonged to the group assassinated the prime minister. Two weeks later, another member of the outfit was arrested for attempting to bomb a courthouse.

Mr. al-Banna denounced the perpetrators and their actions. “They are neither Brothers nor are they Muslims,” he said.

In the 1960s, a small circle of Muslim Brothers were arrested for plotting to reestablish an armed wing. That is when the Brotherhood formally codified its opposition to violence in a tract titled, “Preachers, Not Judges.”

Historians say there has been no evidence since then that the Egyptian Brotherhood, as an organization, has engaged in violence.

The government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has classified the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and routinely accuses it of being behind terrorist attacks. The Brotherhood has consistently denied any involvement.

Since the military takeover of Egypt’s government in 2013, some members of the Brotherhood have broken off to form organizations that carry out acts of violence against the military-backed government.

Two of those groups, Hasm and Liwa al-Thawra, have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States government.

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