- Eight House Democrats have met with notorious racist and anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan during their time in Congress
- Four of those House Democrats now refuse to denounce Farrakhan (and two others have misled the public about their prior relationships with him)
- Farrakahn’s close ties to the Democratic Party have re-emerged as a political issue after he was revealed to have been closer with several House Democrats than they let on.
Farrakhan is a notorious racist and anti-Semite whose closeness with the Democratic Party has re-emerged as a political issue due to three recent developments.
First, a Nation of Islam photographer revealed a 13-year-old photo of then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama smiling with Farrakhan at a Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) meeting in 2005. The CBC asked him to suppress the photo’s publication in order to protect Obama’s presidential aspirations, the photographer said. Twenty-one current House Democrats were in the CBC when Farrakhan had his meeting with the caucus.
Second, Women’s March leaders have come out in support Farrakhan gave a rabidly anti-Semitic speech in February with Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory in attendance. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, slammed Mallory and other Women’s March leaders for their closeness with Farrakhan. Mallory had already faced public scrutiny over her relationship with Farrakhan. When she faced a backlash from attending Farrakhan’s speech, Mallory suggested that Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism made him like Jesus. As of this article, neither Mallory nor the Women’s March has denounced Farrakhan.
Third, new reporting revealed that several House Democrats had closer relationships with Farrakhan than the public had been led to believe. That includes Democratic National Committee (DNC) deputy chair Keith Ellison, who led the public to believe that his relationship with Farrakhan ended in 2006. In fact, Ellison attended multiple meetings with Farrakhan during...