Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee Democrats Blast Cruz’s Hearing Targeting the Muslim Community

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Peter Welch (D-VT), Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Federal Courts, today issued the following statement ahead of Chairman Ted Cruz's hearing this week titled, "Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America." Democrats on the subcommittee will not attend the hearing.

"Scapegoating Muslims may be a Texas Republican strategist's idea of 'solid gold' to whip up their voters, but Democrats have no intention of indulging this political creepshow, particularly after the recent violence targeting places of faith. Our focus is the costs families face thanks to rampant, non-stop Trump corruption."

The hearing comes amid recent reporting that Republicans in Texas, Chairman Cruz's home state, are making anti-Islamic rhetoric part of their primary campaigns. Vinny Minchillo, a Republican strategist based in Plano, Texas claimed that opposition to Islamic religious law was a "winner" in primaries: "It is playing as well as anything I have ever seen with Texas Republican voters. It's solid gold."