President Trump is all about getting things done. Despite great successes in defeating ISIS and other radical terrorist groups, the President is well aware that the fight must continue.
President Trump is powering ahead with his America First agenda, part of which is protecting our homeland from those who wish us harm. Keeping the pressure on, Trump is dead set on declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Many experts have advised against this declaration, and argue it could increase volatility and tension in an already tense region of the world. However, our President knows that times like these require and quick action and firm decisions.
On Tuesday, the White House made good on their promise to move forward with their decision, confirming the stance through Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
According to PJ Media:
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that the Trump administration is working to formally designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement, and the impetus to designate it a terror group actually came from Egypt.
“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,” Sanders said in an email, Reuters reported.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked President Donald Trump to make the designation in a private meeting during a Washington, D.C. visit on April 9. Sisi has already designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. A U.S. official confirmed the meeting, first reported by The New York Times.
After that meeting, Trump praised Sisi as a “great president.” Sisi ousted the previous Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013 and was elected president the following year. He has overseen a crackdown on Islamists.
White House national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo support the designation but officials at the Pentagon and elsewhere have been opposed and have been seeking more limited action, the senior official told Reuters.
The Muslim Brotherhood claims a membership of up to one million people. It came to power in the 2012 election, after dictator Hosni Mubarak was toppled in an uprising. Under Sisi, the movement has been banned. Egypt blamed the Brotherhood for a 2013 suicide bomb attack that killed 16 people. The Brotherhood condemned the attack.
The Muslim Brotherhood, originating in Egypt back in 1928, was founded on the goal of establishing a global Islamic caliphate.
Sound familiar?
According to KAG Daily:
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that the Trump administration is working to formally designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement, and the impetus to designate it a terror group actually came from Egypt.
“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,” Sanders said in an email, Reuters reported.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked President Donald Trump to make the designation in a private meeting during a Washington, D.C. visit on April 9. Sisi has already designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. A U.S. official confirmed the meeting, first reported by The New York Times.
After that meeting, Trump praised Sisi as a “great president.” Sisi ousted the previous Egyptian president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013 and was elected president the following year. He has overseen a crackdown on Islamists.
From Reuters:
The Brotherhood, which estimates its membership at up to 1 million people, came to power in Egypt’s first modern free election in 2012, a year after long-serving autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising. But the movement is now banned and thousands of its supporters and much of its leadership have been jailed.
Istanbul-based Yehya Hamed, who served as investment minister in the Mursi government, said Trump is “trying to fight with the wind,” pointing to the prominent role of Islamist political parties in Tunisia and Morocco.
“What Trump is doing is bringing more instability to the region,” Hamed said.
Daniel Benjamin, former State Department coordinator for counter-terrorism who now teaches at Dartmouth College, called the move mystifying. He said the State Department had considered the designation in 2017 but came to the conclusion there was no basis for doing so.
President Trump has clearly made his decision. Stay tuned for more on this and other breaking news.
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!