The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard’s rant against American Muslims and Islam during a Turning Point USA conference over the weekend as “delusional” and “disqualifying.” In response to Gabbard’s claim that Muslims in Paterson, New Jersey and other cities are plotting to impose “sharia law,” among other unhinged remarks, CAIR said that Gabbard should retract and apologize for her statements or resign.
During a speech at TPUSA AmericaFest, Gabbard claimed that American Muslims are working to impose “sharia law” and “Islamic principles” across America through the “use of laws or violence,” specifically including the cities of Paterson, New Jersey, and Houston, Texas. Gabbard claimed that clerics in Dearborn and Minneapolis are trying to “trying to recruit and radicalize young people.” Gabbard repeatedly attacked “Islamist ideology” as a thinly veiled stand-in for Islam and went further, outright condemning “Islamic principles.” Gabbard also falsely claimed that a conference representing CAIR had earlier this year called for the implementation of sharia law in America. No such conference ever occurred, and no such remarks have ever been made by CAIR.
Last month, CAIR’s national office distributed a formal congressional briefing memo “Weaponized Islamophobia: The Return of the Anti-Sharia Hoax,” to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, along with a companion educational document titled “Sharia in American Life.”
In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:
“As the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard is responsible for gathering, analyzing and presenting factual information to policymakers so that they can protect the American people. The last person who should serve in this critical, apolitical role is a bigoted conspiracy theorist who spreads hate against the American people.
“Tulsi Gabbard’s rant against the American Muslim community and ‘Islamic principles’ was delusional and disqualifying. If DNI Gabbard truly believes that American Muslims are on the verge of imposing Islamic law on Paterson, New Jersey, she is completely detached from reality and has no business serving as the Director of National Intelligence.
“If, on the other hand, Ms. Gabbard spewed these anti-Muslim conspiracy theories knowing they were false, then her dishonesty also disqualifies her from overseeing our nation’s intelligence collection.
“Sadly, Ms. Gabbard has a long history of expressing a thinly-veiled hostility toward Islam and Muslims under the guise of opposing ‘Islamism,’ which is why she happily met with Bashar Al-Assad and Narendra Modi, men who used the specter of a Muslim boogeyman to justify discrimination and violence against their Muslim populations.
“Tulsi Gabbard’s anti-Muslim rant at Turning Point USA was the moment she took off her mask, dropped all pretenses and confirmed her virulent hatred for Islam and the American Muslim community. She should apologize and retract her remarks or resign, and all elected officials should speak out against her unacceptable, deranged bigotry.”
Earlier this year, CAIR released its 2025 Civil Rights Report, Unconstitutional Crackdowns, which reveals that Islamophobia remains at record-high levels nationwide.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com