Now Bachmann says CONGRESSMAN could have links to Muslim Brotherhood

Muslim Rep Keith Ellison added to list after chastising Bachmann's inquiry



Huma Abedin, the Muslim wife of disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner, was targeted as potential threat while aid to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton



Former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann wrote a letter alleging that Abedin's family has connections to the Muslim Brotherhood but provided no proof of the statements



One day after accusations that the U.S. government has been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood leading to heavy criticism of Rep Michele Bachmann in both political parties, she's not backing down.



Instead, the former presidential candidate has added a fellow congressman to her list of U.S. suspects she believes needs investigating.

Rep Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to congress and whom Bachmann shares the state of Minnesota with, has been added to her list of names.

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Taking names: One day after Rep Michele Bachmann accused the U.S. government of being infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood she has added Rep Keith Ellison (right) , a Muslim who challenged her views, to her list



Ellison was added following his defense of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's top aid Huma Abedin, a Muslim, whom Bachmann accused of having relations to the Islamic society.

He said she should apologize to Ms Abedin for her accusations, coupled with four other Republicans, that had zero merit.

Responding to that request, Bachmann voiced concern of Ellison as well and suggested he be added to the list also.

'He has a long record of being associated with (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) and with the Muslim Brotherhood,' she told radio and TV host Glenn Beck on Thursday night.

Ellison, addressing Bachmann's curt accusation, said it is false and believes the congresswoman who's currently running for re-election just wants attention.

Questioned: Huma Abedin (left), aide to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right), has been subjected to inquiry by Rep Michele Bachmann and four other fellow House Republicans for having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood

What rights: Rep Bachmann questioned the high security clearance Ms Abedin has working for Secretary Clinton which Rep Ellison chastised the congresswoman for

'I think she thinks that we're evil because we don't understand God the way she does,' Mr Ellison told the Huffington Post . 'It must be very frightening to see the world through her eyes.'

It was only Wednesday the typically press shy Ms Abedin made headlines instead of her husband, disgraced former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner.

First, she and Weiner appeared in a People magazine spread where she declared that she is proud to be married to her husband even after the Twitter sexting scandal that forced him to resign his position as a Democratic representative for part of the Queens borough in New York.

Then she was a hot topic by Bachmann and other Republican politicians deriding her with claims that her deceased father, mother, and brother has connections to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Calling her out: Though John McCain (right) never mentioned her explicitly, he gave a seven-minute speech slamming a letter that Michele Bachmann (left) wrote deriding one of Hillary Clinton's top aides



'The concerns about the foreign influence of immediate family members is such a concern to the U.S. Government that it includes these factors as potentially disqualifying conditions for obtaining a security clearance, which undoubtedly Ms Abedin has had to obtain to function in her position,' Ms Bachmann wrote in a responding letter to Mr Ellison who called her claims baseless.

'...in questioning how Ms Abedin received a high-level security clearance, you imply that our top intelligence agencies did not adequately investigate Ms Abedin,' Ellison responded.

'Accusing the men and women of the U.S. intelligence community of failing to do their jobs requires far more substantial information than what you have provided to date,' he wrote.



Trusted: Bachmann says Ms Abedin's position is highly sensitive and she could abuse it, effectively because of falsified rumors about her Muslim family's connections

Republican Arizona Senator John McCain, like Ellison, also came to Ms Abedin's defense.



The former presidential candidate spoke passionately about Ms Abedin’s years of dedicated public service in her role with Secretary Clinton, and denounced the senseless character attacks that were made by some of his more conservative party members.



'Huma represents what is best about America: the daughter of immigrants, who has risen to the highest levels of our government on the basis of her substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies so fully.' McCain said in his speech on the Senate floor.

'I am proud to know Huma, and to call her my friend.'

Bachmann, who rose to national prominence during her failed bid for position of this year’s Republican presidential candidate, alleged that Ms Abedin’s deceased father, mother, and brother are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, the controversial political opposition group who often works against American interest in Arab states.

Touting her role on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Bachmann wrote a letter- which was co-signed by four other congressmen- alleging that given Ms Abedin’s highly-sensitive position in Ms Clinton’s staff, she is effectively a national security threat due to her fictitious connections to the Brotherhood.

In the letter, which was sent to the deputy inspector general of the State Department and the Director of National Intelligence among others, Mrs Bachmann and her co-signers gave no traces of evidence of their findings.

Stay at home dad: Weiner has been taking care of his new son Jordan while his wife Huma Abedin continues her high-powered job at Hillary Clinton's top aide

Well connected: Ms Abedin has stood quietly by her husband Anthony Weiner in the wake of his sexting scandal last year that lead to his resignation

Mr McCain made a clear attack on the statements, drawing on his own personal experience having been the victim of false rumors during his multiple presidential campaigns, and having his heroism questioned in spite of his strong military record which included many years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War.



He said that he knows the pain that is cause 'when a person's character, reputation and patriotism are attacked.'

'When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it,' he said.

‘To say that the accusations made in both documents are not substantiated by the evidence they offer is to be overly polite and diplomatic about it.

In the shadows: A then-pregnant Abedin (left in both shots) was the one to hand Clinton her Blackberry when the news came through that Muammar Gaddafi had been killed

Defender: John McCain dismissed the letter about Abedin as reckless and said that he was honored to call her a friend

‘The letter in the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department or as a member of then-Senator Clinton's staff that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government.’

Mrs Clinton’s staff clearly appreciated the bi-lateral support that he showed in renouncing the move.

Mrs Clinton’s spokesman Philippe Reines dismissed the accusations, calling them 'nothing but vicious and disgusting lies, and anyone who traffics in them should be ashamed of themselves. I would hope that hearing the remarkable statement from someone of Senator McCain's stature gives her (Bachmann) pause in doing so any further.'

In response, Mrs Bachmann said that her words were being twisted and that the point of her letters was 'to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials.'



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