Ben Carson said Tuesday that he questions the judgment of lawmakers who invited officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to attend President Obama’s final State of the Union address.
“They have done things that are clearly, you know, not pro-American,” he said of the group on CNN’s “New Day.”
{mosads}“These are people who I have called for an investigation of,” Carson told host Alisyn Camerota. “We can’t now sit there and say these are buddy-buddies of ours, [so] let’s go ahead and investigate the thing.
“If they are our buddies, let’s put that clearly out there. And if they’re not our buddies, let’s not be giving them access to the ability to further carry on what they call a civilization jihad and to change us from a Judeo-Christian foundation to a Muslim foundation. We have got to be smarter than that.”
Two CAIR officials are attending Obama’s speech at the Capitol on Tuesday night at the invitation of Democratic Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.) and Alcee Hastings (Fla.). They are each hosting representatives from CAIR chapters in their respective states.
Lofgren is bringing Sameena Usman, a government relations coordinator in CAIR’s San Francisco office. Nezar Hamze, the chief operating officer of its Florida branch, is the guest of Hastings.
Carson called for a federal probe of CAIR last month, arguing the Islamic advocacy group might have ties to terrorism.
CAIR has attacked Carson, saying he should drop out of the presidential race for his declaration that a Muslim should not be president of the United States. He later clarified that any Muslim candidate should renounce Sharia law.