(WASHINGTON, D.C., 2/5/19) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today renewed its calls on the Trump administration to withdraw the nomination of Heather Nauert for the position of U.N. ambassador after new reports surfaced showing that the former host of “Fox and Friends” helped promote the conspiracy theories of notorious anti-Muslim activists.
In a 2009 Fox News hourlong webcast titled “Terror from Within”, Nauert interviewed notorious anti-Muslim activists Frank Gaffney and Robert Spencer, who peddled conspiracy theories on the program including the false claim that there are Muslim “no-go zones” that are off limits to the authorities.
SEE: UN pick Heather Nauert hosted panel on Sharia law conspiracies in 2009 Fox News webcast
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/politics/kfile-heather-nauert-sharia-law/index.html
SEE: CAIR’s Profile on Robert Spencer
http://www.islamophobia.org/islamophobic-individuals/78-robert-spencer.html
CAIR’s Profile on Frank Gaffney
http://www.islamophobia.org/islamophobic-individuals/106-frank-gaffney.html
Nauert introduced the webcast as a means of exploring “a school of thought that there is a stealthy jihad taking place within the US. And the theory is that some in our country want to destroy our America from within.” She also implied that because the government gave tax breaks to mosques, American taxpayers were funding “their own society’s destruction”.
In December, CAIR called on the Trump administration to drop Nauert’s nomination, citing her promotion of Islamophobic smears and anti-refugee rhetoric.
TAKE ACTION: Urge the U.S. Senate to Reject Islamophobic’ U.N. Ambassador Nominee Heather Nauert
READ CAIR’s Senate Factsheet: https://tinyurl.com/NauertFactsheet
In 2013, Nauert criticized special swim classes for a group of Somali-American girls, describing the classes as the “minority becoming the majority at one community pool. Sharia law is now changing everything.”
Nauert previously bashed refugee students in Pennsylvania for wanting “an even better” public education and falsely claimed that child migrants from Central America were “an illegal health risk.”
SEE: Fox Shames Refugee Students For Seeking “An Even Better” Public Education
Right-Wing Media Keep Rehashing The Xenophobic Smear That Immigrants Bring Diseases
Other than her current position as State Department spokesperson, Nauert has no apparent diplomatic or government experience or expertise.
In June, CAIR applauded the decision by members of the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) to reject President Trump’s nominee for the position of director general to lead the organization, a post held by Americans since 1951.
It was reported that members of the IMO rejected Isaacs’s nomination due to his past Islamophobic statements and in response to Trump administration policies such as the Muslim ban and migrant family separations.
SEE: CAIR Welcomes Rejection of Trump’s Islamophobic Nominee for U.N. Migration Post
CAIR has reported an unprecedented spike in bigotry targeting American Muslims, immigrants and members of other minority groups since the election of Donald Trump as president. The Washington-based civil rights organization has also repeatedly expressed concern about Islamophobic and racist Trump administration policies and appointments.
The Washington-based organization’s recently-released 2018 Civil Rights Report, “Targeted,” showed a 17 percent increase in bias-motivated incidents against American Muslims from 2016 to 2017, and a 15 percent increase in the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes in that same time period. Preliminary data for 2018 indicate that there have been 927 hate incidents targeting American Muslims.
CAIR Report: Trump’s Muslim Bans Increased Anti-Muslim Discrimination, Violence
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com
