UPDATE: After initially declining to come on the show, Grover Norquist has now said he will come on 'The Glenn Beck Program'. Glenn is taking down the paywall and opening up TheBlaze TV to anyone who wants to watch - online or on your mobile device - for free at 5pm ET.
Original Story:
Grover Norquist has brushed off claims from conservative critics before - but this time he's not getting off so easy. On Wednesday night, Glenn presented the facts on Norquist's disturbing ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic extremists. Is he an 'agent of influence'? You decide.
Watch a short highlight from last night's show below and scroll down for more. Subscribers to TheBlaze TV can watch the full episode HERE.
"There are many who claim that Grover Norquist is really kind of the right’s version of George Soros without all the money. He is really a power player who has managed to use his influence to evade any real scrutiny over his dangerous connections. That’s why tonight and tomorrow’s show are necessary," Glenn said.
"Politicians listen to him. Many obey him. He has a long list of connections with radical Islamic organizations and in some cases actual terrorists. Others, not just Frank Gaffney, who was on my program, radio program, and we’re not including Frank Gaffney on this program tonight because we went and did our own homework. We wanted to find out ourselves. We called people ourselves. We did our own homework," he said.
Here are just some of the connections Glenn and his team found.
Who is Grover Norquist?
"Well, first of all, we know that he’s a Harvard grad. He’s really, really quite brilliant. He’s politically minded, wanted to be in politics since he was a youth. Even though he believes in the small business and the free market, he skipped, he has no private sector experience at all, and he was the co-architect of the Bush wins," Glenn said. "He led Muslim outreach after 9/11 with Bush. "
"He has weekly D.C. meetings with the top conservatives because he wields an awful lot of power. He is very, very influential. He also founded something called the American Tax Reform Institute in 1985. This is where you get the pledge, that tax pledge that is signed by most Republicans. He is the guy who has really bulldozed and helped get George W. Bush elected in 1999, and he is big on outreach."
What has he done?
"Now, what has he done? Well, he is extremely influential in the GOP circles, and the important thing is to know where the money goes, so does Norquist. With the cost of winning elections skyrocketing, it makes him extremely important, so people play ball with him. So, what has he created? Well, we know he’s created this foundation, and this is really important. About 90% of all Republicans signed his tax pledge, and it’s a good thing, but he’s also created this, the Islamic Institute, which is trying to support the free market within Islam."
"That’s a good goal until you start to see how this thing has come together."
Who does Grover Norquist trust?
1) Karl Rove and the Koch brothers
"Karl Rove gave $26 million to[Norquist's] tax organization in 2012, and here it is, for something called social welfare, $26 million from Karl Rove and the Koch brothers. The other donor the Koch brothers, they are the primary funders of Norquist’s budget for this."
"Okay, is that a good thing? Sure, all right, whatever, because even if you are on the left and you want really high taxes, there’s nothing seemingly nefarious going on here. Okay, because of this, he holds those high-profile conservative groups in his hands, and he threatens his power to campaign against anybody who doesn’t play by his rules. But what other alliances is he making?"
2) Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi
"This guy is extremely disturbing, al-Amoudi. You might have heard his name before. He was once held up as a moderate Muslim. He founded the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in 1981, and that is the mosque that [the Tsarnaev brothers] came from, you know, the radical marathon bombers."
"In 1993, after the World Trade Center bombing, he campaigned on behalf of Mohammed Salameh, who was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. In 1994, al-Amoudi also denied that Hamas was a terrorist organization."
"He declared support for radical Hamas leader, Marzouk, saying, and I quote, 'I have known Musa Abu Marzuk before, and I really consider him to be from among the best people in the Islamic movement.' Feds caught him expressing frustration that no Americans died in 1998 in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya. He recommended more operations be conducted there."
"In 2000, he stood across from the White House voicing support for terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah. "
"He declared support for radical Hamas leader, Marzouk, saying, and I quote, “I have known Musa Abu Marzuk before, and I really consider him to be from among the best people in the Islamic movement.” Feds caught him expressing frustration that no Americans died in 1998 in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya. He recommended more operations be conducted there."
"In 2000, he stood across from the White House voicing support for terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah."
3) Khaled Saffuri
"Now, the next one on the board is Khaled Saffuri. Who is that? Well, he is al-Amoudi’s right-hand man. He was a deputy at the American Muslim Council, one of the Brotherhood front organizations. He was founder of the Islamic Institute. He was very influential in the Bush administration. He led talks with the administration in opposition of Operation Green Quest, which we’ll talk a little bit about later. That was basically trying to go get the front groups. He didn’t want that to happen."
"Karl Rove tapped him for Muslim outreach. He voiced displeasure after the decision to shut down the Holy Land Foundation for funding Hamas. So, after the trial and they were proven to be a terrorist front group, he was upset at that decision."
4) Sami Al-Arian
" Then we go to Sami Al-Arian. I think everybody pretty much knows who he is, former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, former professor at USF, campaigned against secret evidence method. He was caught soliciting donations for a Palestinian terrorist to kill an Israeli Jew. He paid respects to 'the march of the martyrs and to the river of blood that gushes forth and does not extinguish.' I don’t know about you, but I want to hang out with him. He also said, 'Let us damn America to death.'"
5) Suhail Khan
"Then we go to Suhail Khan. Suhail Khan is probably the cleanest of Grover Norquist’s friends. He campaigned against the DOJ’s secret evidence. His parents are really the trouble spot. They were prominent leaders in the Brotherhood front groups. At the annual award at ISNA, it is given every year in his father’s name. The mosque founded by his dad hosted the Blind Sheikh just a couple of months before he bombed the World Trade Center. He has a network of terror friendly organizations, and he made it possible for Osama bin Laden’s number two, Al-Zawahiri, to actually covertly visit the United States undetected in 1995. He played a key role in founding CAIR. He was praised by al-Amoudi at an award ceremony."
6) Jamal al-Barzinji
"This one is Jamal al-Barzinji. He is the founder, the founding father, he’s the George Washington of the Muslim Brotherhood of the U.S. He played a crucial role in creating and organizing the web of Brotherhood front groups that followed, ISNA, Muslim American Society, IIIT. He founded the radical mosque in Virginia. He’s known for ties to Islamic terrorists from Hamas to Al Qaeda. He’s officer of SAAR Foundation which is suspected of funding terrorist groups."
What does it mean?
"I don’t know what Grover’s motivations are for working with people that range from Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer all the way to full-blown terrorists. It can only be one of two things, he is the most unlucky and naïve guy next to the President of the United States, and I hope it’s that, because the only other option is that he strongly agrees enough with the Muslim Brotherhood’s mission or they’re just paying him enough cash to subvert America."
"Either way, somebody with this much power inside the Republican Party and inside the NRA with these connections is absolutely unacceptable. No person with any shred of integrity whatsoever would be within the same ZIP Code of some of these people, let alone at the same office or exchanging money with them. So far, the explanations given for the connections are completely unacceptable as well."
Watch a short highlight from last night's show below and scroll down for more. Subscribers to TheBlaze TV can watch the full episode HERE.
