Congressman Peter King & Bruce Blakeman Slam Kathleen Rice over Fundraiser with Radical Imam, Unindicted Co-Conspirator in World Trade Center bombing

Press Release

Congressman Peter King and Bruce Blakeman, the Republican, Conservative & Independence nominee for United States Congress in New York's 4th Congressional District, held a press conference in Lower Manhattan slamming Nassau District Attorney & Democrat nominee for Congress Kathleen Rice for agreeing to share a podium at the Islamic Center of Long Island fundraiser with a radical imam and unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj of the Muslim Alliance of North America was going to speak alongside Kathleen Rice. Imam Wahhaj was named in court papers as an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and has a long history of radical and anti-American rhetoric as detailed in recent news reports in the New York Observer and other media outlets.

"It's deeply troubling that Kathleen Rice decided to appear next to a radical imam and unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. It raises more questions about her judgement: why would Ms. Rice wish to be associated with the character witness for Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing? Nassau County families and our first responders deserve better," said Congressman Peter King (NY-3)

"Kathleen Rice's poor decision to share a podium with a radical anti-American leader who hatefully rants against Israel, Jews and America raises more questions about her judgement. Nassau's chief law enforcement official not knowing about this unindicted co-conspirator of the World Trade Center bombing who was to sit right next to her can't be blamed on scheduling or shoddy staff work. Neighbors demand much more from our Members of Congress and they should expect the same of the District Attorney. The only reason Kathleen Rice backed out of this fundraising dinner was because she was caught by the media," said Bruce Blakeman, the Republican-Conservative-Independence nominee for Congress in New York's Fourth District.

King and Blakeman cited reporting in the New York Observer that Ms. Rice agreed and was slated to speak alongside Imam Wahhaj of the Muslim Alliance of North America. Public invitations to the event had been posted online -- on the ICLI website and various social media pages -- for over a week.

As of 2:00pm today, the invitation listing Rice and Wahhaj as keynote speakers at the upcoming fundraiser was still featured on the front page of the Long Island Islamic Center's website.

Wahhaj was named in court papers as an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. A number of members of Wahhaj's mosque were indicted for the bombing -- and he testified in support of each of them. Similarly, he served as a character witness for imprisoned terrorist Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman -- the notorious anti-American blind sheikh. Wahhaj called the Sheikh Abdel-Rahman "a respected scholar." (Source: The Algemeiner. October 24, 2014)

Imam Wahhaj also has a poor opinion of the United States, once saying "America is the most wicked government on the face of the planet Earth" according to the Observer. Wahhaj has also made extremist statements while lecturing at the Islamic Association of Northern Texas. In November of 1991, Wahhaj advocated the establishment of an Islamic State in the U.S. saying "[w]here ever you came from, you came to America. And you came for one reason- for one reason only -- to establish Allah's deen" according to The Investigative Project on Terrorism, a 501(c)(3) non-profit research group.

Only after being pressured by the media and public outcry on Friday for her terrible judgement and poor decision to participate in this forum with the radical imam did District Attorney Kathleen Rice, the NY04 Democrat congressional nominee and Nassau District Attorney, pull out of the fundraiser they both were slated to appear at.

The World Trade Center is sacred ground to Blakeman; his nephew, Senior Court Officer Tommy Jurgens was killed in the September 11, 2001 attack on the Twin Towers while voluntarily rushing to the scene to rescue the victims trapped in the towers.

Congressman Peter King is former Chairman and a current member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence and as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

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