U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz ripped Democrats a new one on Wednesday after they boycotted a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Muslim Brotherhood.
“You may notice that there are empty chairs on the Democrat side of the dais,” he said during Wednesday’s hearing. “The American people should ask themselves, why? Not a single member of the minority decided that a hearing on terrorism was worth their time.”
“It is an embarrassment and a disservice to the thousands of American victims of the Muslim Brotherhood, including, most recently, the dozens of Americans who died on October 7th at the hand of Gaza’s Muslim Brotherhood branch, Hamas,” he added.
Listen to his full remarks below:
I held a hearing today in which experts established that the Muslim Brotherhood and DSA communists are united by a shared hatred of America, Israel, Western civilization, capitalism, and democracy, and a revolutionary objective to overthrow the U.S. Constitution.
That is why… pic.twitter.com/2UnlXpjqkc
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) August 5, 2026
Judiciary Committee Democrats boycotted the hearing out of concern that Republicans would scapegoat all Muslims.
“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,” the Democrats said in a joint statement.
Cruz famously introduced a bill last year that would designate the entire Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization on the federal level. During Wednesday’s hearing, the senator explained why this designation is necessary.
“The Muslim Brotherhood spawned Hamas, influenced the ideology of Al Qaeda, and gave rise to multiple terrorist organizations,” he said. “They functioned as part of a broader Muslim Brotherhood ecosystem.”
Cruz also gave an in-depth history lesson on the Muslim Brotherhood.
“In 1991, the Muslim Brotherhood drafted what became known as the explanatory memorandum, discovered by FBI investigators in 2004 in Annandale, Virginia, just across the river from where we sit today,” he said. “The memorandum described what it called a ‘civilizational jihadist process in North America.’ And it explained that process in unmistakable terms.”
“It declared that the Brotherhood’s work in America was ‘a grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers.’ But the memorandum did not stop at simply describing an objective. It also explained how to get there,” he added.
“It called on the Brotherhood to ‘master the art of coalition building’ and to ‘absorb, contain, and cooperate with the existing Islamic organizations in order to advance its mission in North America,'” he continued.
The Constitution draws the line clearly:
Protect free speech.
Protect religious liberty.
Prosecute those who fund and support terrorism.The Muslim Brotherhood is not a peaceful religious organization. The First Amendment is not a license to finance murder. pic.twitter.com/WpPn6d5JBL
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 5, 2026
Wednesday’s hearing came months after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations terrorist organizations and prohibited both from purchasing land in the state.
“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,'” the governor said in a statement. “The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable.”
“Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas,” he added.
Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations.
This bans them from buying or acquiring land in Texas and authorizes the Attorney General to sue to shut them down. pic.twitter.com/lSYvpkTmh3
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 18, 2025
Although the wider Muslim Brotherhood network remains untouched on the federal level, President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted smaller offshoots and chapters like the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, and the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood.
In recent days, Republicans including Cruz have accused Michigan Democrat Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed of being affiliated with the network:
🚨WATCH: @SenTedCruz blasts Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, tying him to the Muslim Brotherhood and accusing Democrats of “openly embracing terrorist organizations waging war on America.” pic.twitter.com/gmFqPkgbfK
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) August 5, 2026
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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